US District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland on Thursday ruled
that the plaintiffs had adequately alleged that their privacy was violated by
“accidental activations” when the user neither intends nor expects Siri to be
“listening” and recording voice conversations. But the judge said the suit did
not show users suffered any economic harm, a necessary element of their claim
under the UCL that Apple deceptively marketed the voice assistant.
White had dismissed the case in February, finding that the
plaintiffs, in claiming privacy violations, hadn’t adequately alleged that
their own communications had been intercepted by Siri. The judge gave the
plaintiffs a chance to re-file their case, and he said Thursday they had
sufficiently claimed their own privacy had been violated in their amended
complaint.
White tossed the UCL claim because he said plaintiffs had
not shown that they purchased Apple products specifically based on
representations that their privacy would be protected.
Consumers have brought similar complaints over Amazon.com
Inc’s Alexa and Google Assistant. The common complaint is that devices are
listening even when users didn’t push a button or use a pre-set voice command
to engage them, resulting in all manner of utterances and even intimate moments
being captured in company databases.
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