Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a civil lawsuit alleging that the privacy-conscious company used its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other popular devices.
The proposed settlement, filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court, would end a 5-year-old lawsuit alleging that Apple secretly activated Siri to record conversations on iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.
The alleged recordings took place even when people did not attempt to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words “Hey, Siri.” According to the lawsuit, some of the recorded conversations were shared with advertisers in order to sell their products to consumers who were more likely to be interested in the goods and services.
The allegations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple’s long-standing commitment to protecting its customers’ privacy — a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has frequently described as a fight to preserve “a fundamental human right.”
Apple does not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Lawyers in the case have proposed a February 14 court hearing in Oakland to review the terms.
If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of customers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices between September 17, 2014, and the end of last year could file claims.
Each consumer could receive up to $20 for each Siri-enabled device covered by the settlement, though the amount could be reduced or increased depending on the volume of claims. Estimates in court documents suggest that only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers will file claims.
Eligible consumers will be able to seek compensation for a maximum of five devices.
The settlement represents a fraction of Apple’s $705 billion profits since September 2014. It’s also a fraction of the approximately $1.5 billion that consumer lawyers estimated Apple could be required to pay if the company was found to have violated wiretapping and other privacy laws had the case gone to trial.
According to court documents, the attorneys who filed the lawsuit may seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to pay their legal fees and other expenses.
