SUMMARY
SGT achieved a major victory on January 29, 2025, when the court granted class certification in this groundbreaking case alleging that Apple's Siri voice assistant illegally captures, collects and disseminates Illinois residents' biometric voiceprints without proper consent. This is the first class action to successfully challenge Apple's Siri technology under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), one of the nation's strictest privacy laws. The plaintiffs include millions of Illinois Siri users whose voices were recorded and analyzed while using Siri.
OVERVIEW
The complaint alleges that Apple captures, collects, possesses and uses voiceprints in two ways. First, it creates a voiceprint that is stored and used to unlock a user’s device when the user utters the trigger phrase “Hey Siri” (for those users who have enrolled in Personalized Hey Siri). Second, it creates voiceprints when it analyzes user requests, which requires the processing and decoding of speech in a manner that creates biometric identifiers and information in violation of BIPA. This latter violation applies to all Siri users, regardless of whether they have enrolled in Personalized Hey Siri.
The Legal Violations
The complaint alleges Apple violated multiple provisions of BIPA, Illinois' biometric privacy law (740 ILCS 14/1, et seq.), by:
- Failing to obtain informed written consent before collecting and storing users' voiceprint biometrics
- Failing to provide required disclosures about the specific purposes and length of time for which voiceprints are being collected, stored, and used
- Failing to establish and publish retention schedules and destruction guidelines for biometric data
- Using and disclosing voiceprint data without authorization, including sharing voice recordings with third-party contractors
Who Is Affected
The class includes all Illinois residents who created a Siri user profile on an iPhone or other Apple device using speaker recognition technology during the class period.
What Relief Is Being Sought
On behalf of the class, SGT seeks:
- Statutory damages of $1,000 for each negligent violation and $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation of BIPA
- Injunctive relief requiring Apple to comply with BIPA's requirements
- Attorneys' fees and costs
- Other appropriate relief
CLASS DEFINITION
All Illinois residents who used the Siri function on any Apple device and had their voiceprints or biometric feature vectors capable of identifying them computed from their voice signals and/or raw audio collected, captured, possessed and/or disseminated by Apple, Inc. from September 2014 to the present.
CASE UPDATES
January 30, 2025: Court Grants Class Certification
In a major victory for Illinois privacy rights, Judge Michael T. Mullen granted class certification, allowing the case to proceed on behalf of millions of Illinois Siri users. As discovery is nearly complete, the court's decision paves the way for trial on the merits of whether Apple violated BIPA by collecting voiceprints without proper consent. This ruling represents a significant development in the growing body of BIPA litigation targeting major technology companies.
December 9, 2020: Court Denies Apple's Motion to Dismiss
Judge Mullen sustained plaintiffs' claims and denied Apple's motion to dismiss the case. In its motion, Apple had argued that Siri does not create "voiceprint templates" and that the user enrollment process constitutes adequate consent under BIPA. The court rejected these arguments, finding that plaintiffs adequately alleged BIPA violations and that the case should proceed to discovery.
December 23, 2019: Amended Class Action Complaint Filed
SGT filed an Amended Class Action Complaint detailing how Apple's speaker recognition feature for Siri creates, captures, and stores users' voiceprints through the user enrollment process without obtaining the informed written consent required by BIPA. The complaint alleges Apple uses these voiceprints to process Siri requests and improve the Siri product, and that Apple has shared voice recordings with third party contractors to evaluate the voice-recognition software.
October 10, 2019: Class Action Filed
SGT, along with co-counsel Miller Shakman Levine & Feldman of Chicago, filed the initial class action complaint in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of named plaintiff Deborah Zaluda and all similarly situated Illinois residents.
