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Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the tech giant used its Siri voice assistant to obtain and share private conversations without users’ permission.
The preliminary settlementfiled Tuesday in California federal court, ends a more than 5-year legal battle over claims that Apple’s Siri assistant regularly recorded private conversations and shared them with third parties, including advertisers.
The privacy and wiretapping lawsuit alleged that Siri recorded conversations even if users didn’t activate the feature, which is usually done by pressing the designated button or saying the tail phrase “Hey, Siri” on their iPhone or other Apple devices.
The settlement is still pending approval by U.S. District Judge Jeffry White, and lawyers proposed a Feb. 14 hearing to review the terms.
If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of people who owned iPhones or other Apple devices between September 17, 2014 and late last year can file claims, according to court documents. Consumers can request compensation for up to five Siri devices.
Each customer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device, though only 3 to 5 percent of eligible consumers are expected to file claims. The Associated Press noted.
Apple did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement. The Hill has reached out to the company and its lawyers for further comment.
The 95 million dollars is only a small part of the profits made by Apple, which supposedly had a net income of $93.74 billion in its most recent fiscal year, far less than the estimated $1.5 billion that consumer lawyers estimated the tech giant could pay if the privacy case went to trial, according to the AP.
