Apple suspends the program of listening to private conversations
So far, neither Google nor Amazon nor Apple have been transparent in explaining to users who listen to the conversations they have with the attendees. But this could begin to change due to the leaks in this regard produced in recent months. Apple has suspended the program for listening to user conversations with Siri, according to the media specialized in TechCrunch technology . The Cupertino company has stated to the same media that it will review the process to determine if the assistant listens to the queries correctly or if it is activated by mistake and will allow users to choose whether or not to participate in this program.
“We are committed to providing a great experience with Siri while protecting user privacy. While we carry out a comprehensive review, we have suspended Siri’s global rating program. In addition, as part of a future software update , the users may choose to participate in this program, “says Apple in a statement.
Apple, which bears the right to privacy of its customers, took about three months to recognize THE COUNTRY that hired these transcriptionists. He did it last week when this newspaper revealed that the Cupertino company had employees in Spain who listen to private conversations of users in several languages, including French and German. “These audios are not related at any time with users and are heard and analyzed to improve what the machine understands, to understand different accents and ways of speaking,” said Apple sources.
Listening to private recordings is carried out through a subcontracted company. The reviewers are responsible for analyzing private conversations and requests made to the virtual assistant of Apple devices. They are, as they relate, with recordings of all kinds: from “normal searches or requests to Siri to many barbarities.”
Although tech giants insist that attendees are only activated when they issue a command, they are sometimes activated by mistake. “I’ve come to listen to people having sex up to twice. Sometimes, the recording begins by accident and they don’t realize it,” the former employees recalled.
Amazon and Google
Apple’s case is no exception. Amazon and Google also have employees who listen to random conversations every day with the goal of improving the system. And it has also been difficult for them to admit it. Both companies have only recognized performing these practices once the information is published. After a leak of a thousand recordings in early July, Google paralyzed these programs and admitted that “language experts” hired by the firm listen to approximately 0.2% of the conversations that users have with their virtual assistant. Meanwhile, neither Samsung nor Microsoft have yet explained if they do too.
Several privacy experts criticize the lack of transparency and the potential riskthat companies could accurately profile each user. Borja Adsuara, an expert lawyer in digital law, launched the following question a few months ago : “What is more dangerous than a person from time to time to connect to your assistant and write the conversation or have an artificial intelligence that collects everything you say and is it possible to know what worries you? For him, that audios be heard by people is secondary. The big problem “is that many of those who use the attendees do not know that they are being recorded” because they do not read the privacy policies.
Jorge Campanillas, delegate of data protection and privacy specialist at Iurismatica Abogados , stresses that we must be aware that, whether through an ‘algorithm’ or a person, companies are having access to these conversations. “The machines and people are listening to what we do at all times, in this chaos by voice assistants, but without forgetting that the same is done with our free services email, since they ‘read’ it and then show us advertising to respect, or with Facebook, which also has a large number of people to decide if the platform will finally publish the photograph that we ourselves have uploaded. ”
