{"id":3594,"date":"2015-09-18T12:01:25","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T16:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=3594"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:53:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:53:35","slug":"the-impact-of-always-on-technology-and-consumer-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/the-impact-of-always-on-technology-and-consumer-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Impact of Always On Technology and Consumer Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Apple announced the iPhone 6s at a special event on September 9th, the latest flagship phone came with typical\u00a0upgrades<\/a>: a better camera, processor, and even a new 3D Touch system were unveiled. However, some new software features were met with heightened concerns over user privacy. These features were\u00a0Hey Siri<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Live Photos<\/a>.
\nHey Siri is the same voice based personal assistant that has been a feature of previous iPhones. The only difference is, on the iPhone 6s, Siri will always be on and waiting for voice commands. Saying \u201cHey Siri\u201d activates Siri without having to press a button. Previously, iPhone\u2019s had to be charging for this feature to be active. This means that owners of iPhone 6s\u2019 will have everything they say analyzed to recognize whether an appropriate command to Siri has been given. Apple has stated that anything before the words \u201cHey Siri\u201d are not recorded and any data related to conversations is quickly overwritten. It is unclear whether the always on feature can be disabled without completely disabling Siri.
\nLive Photos captures three seconds before and after taking a photo in order to animate a photograph beyond the moment a picture is taken. This does not pose an issue to privacy, but it may be a concern for people who buy iPhones with smaller storage space. A Live Photo can take up to twice the amount of space as a conventional photo. Apple has reported that this feature can be disabled by the user.
\nThe always on feature of Apple\u2019s Hey Siri technology is not unique, and it merely elevates Siri to the level of its competitors. Google Now is Google\u2019s personal assistant. Google Now does not focus on conversations in the same way as Siri but learns patterns and presents potentially helpful information through an application. Cortana, Microsoft\u2019s built in personal assistant, is more similar to Apple\u2019s Siri but has also been integrated into Window\u2019s 10, Microsoft\u2019s latest operating system. It is likely that Siri will make the jump to Apple\u2019s computer operating system at some point in the future as well. Both Google Now and Cortana have active listening features and they work by listening for a certain phrase to be activated. When the always on feature was implemented in Google and Microsoft\u2019s always on intelligent personal assistants, there were little to no concerns over privacy. However, Google\u2019s and Microsoft\u2019s technology is not as synonymous with automated intelligent personal assistants as Apple\u2019s Siri. Now that most Android, Apple, and Windows based phones will have the potential for always on listening there is potential for both accidental\u00a0breaches<\/a>\u00a0and a target for hacking.
\nTechnology is increasingly able to do more novel things, and smartphone companies are racing to come up with the next must have feature.<\/p>\n

Technology can move faster than the law can keep up with. As a result, technological innovation invariably moves the line for user privacy as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Technology companies have adapted different approaches as to how much importance they choose to place on privacy. Apple\u2019s CEO, Tim Cook, is a vocal supporter of user privacy and has gone as far to say that people have \u201ca fundamental right to privacy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0This stance has put Apple at odds with the federal government, because Apple has denied the Department of Justice\u2019s requests for encrypted iMessages. Apple\u2019s stance on privacy has been a selling point recently as Cook has opposed Google\u2019s practice of selling user information to other companies. Maintaining this identity helps Apple stay on the cutting edge in the ever cutthroat\u00a0smartphone wars<\/a>.
\nThese new features should not deter you from getting an iPhone or any other phone with active listening for that matter, but it may be a source of alarm if you are afraid of a future where everything you say or do could potentially be recorded. The iPhone 6s is on track to beat the previous year\u2019s presale record, so there is no evidence that these features are\u00a0deterring<\/a>\u00a0buyers.\u00a0 In addition, there is no evidence that Apple is recording or saving iPhone users conversations. However, you should always be careful what you say. You never know who actually is listening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Apple announced the iPhone 6s at a special event on September 9th, the latest flagship phone came with typical\u00a0upgrades: a better camera, processor, and even a new 3D Touch system were unveiled. However, some new software features were met with heightened concerns over user privacy. These features were\u00a0Hey Siri\u00a0and\u00a0Live Photos. Hey Siri is the …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7311,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594\/revisions\/7311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}