The lawsuit against Apple revolved around allegations that Siri, the company's virtual assistant, was recording conversations without users' consent. The lawsuit claimed that these recordings were shared with advertisers to better target ads, despite Apple's assurance that privacy is a fundamental human right. The allegations first surfaced in a 2019 article by The Guardian, which reported that Siri's microphone was being activated without user knowledge, leading to the filing of the lawsuit. The recordings were said to include sensitive conversations, such as medical appointments and personal discussions, raising significant privacy concerns among users [1] [2].

Apple has agreed to a $95 million settlement to resolve the class action lawsuit, which covers tens of millions of U.S. consumers who owned Siri-enabled devices from 2014 to 2024. Eligible users can file claims to receive up to $20 per device, with a cap of five devices per consumer. The settlement is pending approval from a U.S. district judge, and a court hearing is scheduled for February 14, 2025, to review the terms. The settlement aims to avoid a lengthy and costly trial, which could have resulted in Apple paying up to $1.5 billion if found guilty of violating privacy laws [2] [3].

The settlement brings attention to privacy concerns surrounding voice-activated devices like Siri. While Apple maintains its innocence, the case highlights the potential for unintentional data collection and sharing. Consumers are encouraged to review their privacy settings and disable Siri if they have concerns about eavesdropping. The case also raises questions about the privacy practices of other tech companies, as a similar lawsuit against Google is currently underway. Apple's settlement includes a commitment to permanently delete individual Siri audio recordings collected before October 2019, and to provide users with more transparent information about data collection [4] [5].