By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – Apple agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a proposed class action lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated Siri assistant violated users’ privacy.
A preliminary settlement was filed on Tuesday night in the Oakland, California federal court, and requires approval by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White.
Mobile device owners complained that Apple routinely recorded their private conversations after they activated Siri unintentionally, and disclosed these conversations to third parties such as advertisers.
Voice assistants typically react when people use “hot words” such as “Hey, Siri.”
Two plaintiffs said their mentions of Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants triggered ads for those products. Another said he got ads for a brand name surgical treatment after discussing it, he thought privately, with his doctor.
The class period runs from Sept. 17, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2024. It began when Siri incorporated the “Hey, Siri” feature that allegedly led to the unauthorized recordings.
Class members, estimated in the tens of millions, may receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, such as iPhones and Apple Watches.
Apple denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
The Cupertino, California-based company and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to similar requests. They may seek up to $28.5 million in fees, plus $1.1 million for expenses, from the settlement fund.
The $95 million is about nine hours of profit for Apple, whose net income was $93.74 billion in its latest fiscal year.
A similar lawsuit on behalf of users of Google’s Voice Assistant is pending in the San Jose, California federal court, in the same district as the Oakland court. The plaintiffs are represented by the same law firms as in the Apple case.
The case is Lopez et al v. Apple Inc., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 19-04577.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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