A new year marks a new slate of legal drama and mess, apparently. AP News reports that Apple will possibly pay $95 million dollars to settle a lawsuit that accuses Siri of eavesdropping on people via iPhones and other devices. Uh oh. Honestly, this isn’t very shocking to anyone who owns an Apple device. It has always seemed like you could have a conversation about a certain thing like a sweatshirt and then sweatshirt ads pop up galore. But that’s always been more of a weird conspiracy theory than something that’s an actual fact. This lawsuit does challenge that notion.
The Apple lawsuit and settlement involving an eavesdropping and perhaps always listening Siri was filed recently in an Oakland, CA federal court. The suit itself is five years old and deals with allegations that Apple would use Siri to record conversations, even when the virtual assistant wasn’t activated with “Hey, Siri.” Those conversations were then supposedly shared with advertisers to sell their products to certain consumers. Interesting. I personally believe that there’s always some sort of Big Brother watching us, but I am also a nerd who likes conspiracies.
If the settlement gains approval, millions of people who have had or currently have iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014 through December 2024 could file claims. But, don’t expect to get rich off of this. It seems the settlement will only offer up to $20 for each device with Siri on it. It could be more if people don’t file claims but certainly not enough to make anyone rich. Oh well. Either way, welcome to 2025, another year of foolery.
