Recently, the US tech giant Apple has agreed to spend $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing Apple of deploying a Siri virtual assistant to secretly listen to iPhone and other trendy device users.
It is known that the settlement proposal was submitted to the federal court of Oakland, California on January 1 (Vietnam time). Accordingly, Apple will settle a 5-year-long lawsuit revolving around allegations that the company secretly activated Siri to record conversations via iPhones and other devices with this virtual assistant integrated for more than a decade.
According to the plaintiffs, many recordings are even made even if the user does not activate the Siri virtual assistant. Some of the recordings were shared with businesses to run ads to consumers who are likely to be interested in their goods and services.
In addition, the above allegations have reflected information that is completely contrary to Apple's long-standing commitment to protecting customers' privacy. However, so far, Apple has not admitted any wrongdoings in the proposal to settle the lawsuit.
On the other hand, the proposal must be approved by Judge Jeffrey White of the District Court. Meanwhile, the lawyers involved have proposed a hearing on February 14 in Oakland to review the terms more closely.
If the latest arrangement proposal is approved, tens of millions of iPhone and other Apple devices users from September 17, 2014 to the end of last year could file complaints. Each person is expected to be compensated about 20 USD for each device with Siri installed. This amount can be reduced or increased depending on the extent of the damage stated in the complaint.
According to court documents, only about 3 - 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file a complaint and each person can only claim compensation for up to 5 devices they use.
This $95 million settlement agreement is just a fraction of Apple's $705 billion in profits since September 2014. In addition, this is only a fraction of the $1.5 billion that consumer lawyers estimate Apple could have to pay if it is found to have violated wiretap and other privacy laws.
The lawyers could also request a deduction of $29.6 million of the $95 million settlement to cover fees and other costs, the court said.
