Apple To No Longer Save Recordings From Siri Without Permission, Publishes Privacy FAQ

Apple has today announced that it will be restarting its Siri grading program later this year. It also says that it will be making some policy changes following the recent discovery that contractors were able to listen to some recordings.

Apple says that it will no longer save audio recordings as a matter of course, although users will be able to opt in. The company also says that it will delete recordings that are collected by false Siri activations as well. A further change will mean that only Apple employees will be able to listen to these recordings, with no contractors used. In fact, the entire team that was previously listening to recordings has now been removed.

The return of Siri audio grading won’t happen until a future software update adds the ability to opt in if a user chooses. To help with that decision Apple has also published an FAQ page that seeks to put users’ minds at rest.

Siri has been engineered to protect user privacy from the beginning, because Apple’s business doesn’t depend on collecting anyone’s data. We use as little data as possible to provide a great service, and we process that data — including Siri requests — on device as much as possible.

The FAQ answers questions like “Is Siri always listening?” as well as other questions surrounding the digital voice assistant. Apple is also keen to remind people that the use of Siri recordings and transcripts is simply to help improve its capabilities. You can view the full FAQ on Apple’s website or down below.

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