"Apple has suspended its practice of having human contractors listen to users’ Siri recordings to 'grade' them..."

"The company said it would not restart the programme until it had conducted a thorough review of the practice.... The suspension was prompted by a report in the Guardian last week that revealed the company’s contractors 'regularly' hear confidential and private information while carrying out the grading process, including in-progress drug deals, medical details and people having sex. The bulk of that confidential information was recorded through accidental triggers of the Siri digital assistant, a whistleblower told the Guardian. The Apple Watch was particularly susceptible to such accidental triggers, they said.... Although Apple told users that Siri data may be used 'to help Siri … understand you better and recognise what you say,' the company did not explicitly disclose that this entailed human contractors listening to a random selection of Siri recordings, including those triggered accidentally...."

The Guardian reports.

What is voluntarily stopped can be voluntarily restarted. And why trust mere assurances — especially when they come from an entity that just screwed up and only stopped because it got caught? The answer is obvious: We like the good things we're getting from the technology. We're voluntarily letting go of our privacy values.

Sometimes I wonder whether we ever really did have very strong privacy values. Perhaps we have a deep-seated need to be watched over — if not by our parents or by God, then by Apple. Apple does seem to have been listening to us so it could take better care of us. It's benevolent, we want to believe. It's much like our other beliefs.

You can shift over to fear of horrible things in the offing — with Apple and with God and maybe even your parents. Throw them all off, if you want, if you can. But will that make your life better? See, that's why you're trusting Apple (and God and your parents) and that's why you don't put all that high a value on privacy.

Want a life firmly, fully premised on privacy? What would that really be like?