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Apple suspends Siri response grading in response to privacy concerns – TechCrunch
In response to concerns raised by a Guardian story last week over how recordings of Siri queries are used for quality control, Apple is suspending the program world wide. Apple says it will review the process that it uses, called grading, to determine whether Siri is hearing queries correctly, or being invoked by mistake.
In addition, it will be issuing a software update in the future that will let Siri users choose whether they participate in the grading process or not.
The Guardian story from Alex Hern quoted extensively from a contractor at a firm hired by Apple to perform part of a Siri quality control process it calls grading. This takes snippets of audio, which are not connected to names or IDs of individuals, and has contractors listen to them to judge whether Siri is accurately hearing them — and whether Siri may have been invoked by mistake.
"We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy," Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch. "While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading."
Previously: Siri Records Fights, Doctor's Appointments, and Sex (and Contractors Hear It)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @03:59PM (6 children)
We all strongly want this tech to become usable locally only and kept under individual control. Where is true open source, when we really need it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @04:06PM
Bourgeois software cannot help us. We must develop socialist software, licensed with the GPL or compatible (sorry BSD/MIT petite bourgeois fanbois), that can perform these functions. Only then will our privacy be secure.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by acid andy on Saturday August 03 2019, @06:58PM
I found this list [wikipedia.org] in a few seconds. It might not be prepackaged with shiny marketing and forced updates but I expect there's some libraries there that could be set up with a little effort to do whatever you wish.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @09:20PM (2 children)
There are local open source versions of this. They suck because they don't have enough data. Data that is gathered from millions of users.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by acid andy on Sunday August 04 2019, @12:58AM (1 child)
But isn't that kind of sucking almost infinitely preferable to the, shall we say, slurping kind of sucking that comes with the alternative?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 04 2019, @01:07AM
Ceiling Siri is listening to you having oral sex.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday August 04 2019, @03:44PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves