Apple under investigation in France over Siri voice recording

Apple is under investigation in France over its collection and use of voice recordings made through Siri, its digital assistant, the Paris prosecutor's office announced on Monday (October 6). The case has been referred to the Office for Combating Cybercrime, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office. The investigation was first reported by Politico.

Why Apple’s Siri is being probed
The probe centres on Apple's practice of collecting user recordings through Siri, the digital assistant available on most of its devices. Apple records and retains audio interactions through Siri to improve its services, a feature the company describes as opt-in.

The investigation follows a complaint filed in France earlier this year by the Ligue des droits de l'Homme, a human rights organisation. That complaint was based on testimony from Thomas le Bonniec, a former Apple subcontractor in Ireland who has publicly discussed analysing sensitive user recordings, including conversations from cancer patients.


What Apple has to say on Siri investigation
An Apple spokesperson declined to comment but referred to a blog post the company published in January addressing its use of voice recordings, Bloomberg said.

According to Apple, some of that data can be retained for up to two years and reviewed by "graders," or subcontractors hired by the company.

In its January blog post, Apple stated it "does not retain audio recordings of Siri interactions unless users explicitly opt in to help improve Siri, and even then, the recordings are used solely for that purpose."