‘Hey Siri, are you listening?’ France probes Apple over data collection

French prosecutors announced on Oct. 6 that they are investigating Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, after receiving a complaint alleging illegal data collection, Reuters reported.

The Paris prosecutor’s office assigned the case to a police cybercrime unit.

Technology researcher Thomas Le Bonniec told Reuters that he filed the complaint on behalf of the French human rights group Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (the Human Rights League).

The organization explained that the complaint specifically alleges Apple collected, recorded and analyzed users’ Siri conversations without their knowledge or explicit permission, detailing that these actions were taken without user consent.

Apple said it strengthened Siri’s privacy in 2019 and again this year, and that recordings are not shared with marketers or sold to advertisers.