Snooping Siri

It seems like for the past couple of years privacy and companies selling your information to third parties has been a topic that has never left the news. And understandably so, it’s scary to think about all the people that have my personal information and all of the things they could possibly do with it. This has been going on for a while now, but it is only in the past couple of years that companies have started being more transparent with people about how they are gathering, storing, and using your information. Now when you go to a new website, most of the time a pop-up will come up telling you that the site collects cookies. These pop-ups are only to notify you and if you don’t want cookies being collected then your only option really is to not use the site.

In a recent iOS update, iOS 13, Apple implemented a system where Siri would record and collect the interaction you have with her as a way to help improve Siri’s accuracy. After installing the update, users could opt in to a thing called “Siri and Dictation Analytics.” The reason this new system is disliked by many is because not only is it collecting the questions and requests given to Siri, but it is collecting the actual recordings of the interactions between the user and the virtual assistant.  

If you are like me when a new update comes out, I usually don’t read the screens that come up, I just try to click whatever I need so that I can continue using my phone. I was pretty alarmed when I learned about it, but this article guides you through the process to opt out of it. Stay safe out there. 

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