A San Francisco federal judge has barred Apple from making certain arguments defending against a proposed privacy class action, as punishment for deleting audio recordings of users’ interactions with its Siri voice assistant central to the allegations, reports Bloomberg Law.
“It is undisputed that Apple did not suspend its retention policy after it was served and, thus, continued to delete ESI pursuant to its retention policy,” Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the US District Court for the Northern District of California wrote in an order, referring to electronically stored information. “Instead, Apple argues that the documents deleted pursuant to its retention policy were not relevant. The Court disagrees.”
The sanctions stop Apple from making any affirmative arguments based on the plaintiffs’ failures to draw evidence from the deleted data. In an August 2019 complaint, it was reported contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control, or “grading,” Siri. In response, Apple temporarily halted the grading program. The company resumed it in the fall, but said it had made these changes.
Kim has ordered that a jury needs to determine whether Apple deleted the information intentionally and should therefore be subject to more severe sanctions, reports Bloomberg Law.
I hope that you’ll consider becoming a patron of Apple World Today. Prices range from $2 a month to $10 a month. You can sign up here. Thanks in advance for your support.
Here are the top Apple-related articles at Apple World Today for the week of June…
PDF Reader Pro gives your Mac the functionality it needs to become a PDF-editing powerhouse.
Hey, Margrethe Vestager of the EU, you can’t have it both ways with Apple.
“Fancy Dance,” “Land of Women,” and “WondLa” are now streaming on Apple TV+.
iPhone shipments in China rose nearly 40% in May from a year earlier, extending a…
Rain AI, an AI hardware processor developer backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and investment banks,…