Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 30 august 2019

In this June 4, 2018, file photo Craig Federighi, Apple's senior
vice president of Software Engineering, speaks about Siri dur-
ing an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide
Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif.
Associated Press
Apple apologizes for

use of contractors This March 29, 2018, file photo shows the Facebook moniker on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite,

in New York's Times Square.
Associated Press
to eavesdrop on Siri Facebook tightens political ad

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE vices. But users aren't typi-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — and not just computers are rules, but leaves loopholes
AP Technology Writer
cally aware that humans
Apple is apologizing for reviewing audio.
allowing outsiders to listen The use of humans to lis- By BARBARA ORTUTAY low small grassroots groups Last month, Facebook was
to snippets of people's re- ten to audio recordings SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — and local politicians to run ordered to pay a $5 billion
corded conversations with is particularly troubling to Facebook is tightening its political ads could also fine to the Federal Trade
its digital assistant Siri, a privacy experts because it rules around political ad- continue to allow bad ac- Commission over privacy
practice that undermined increases the chances that vertising ahead of the 2020 tors to take advantage of violations. It also faces a se-
its attempts to position itself a rogue employee or con- U.S. presidential election, the process. ries of other investigations
as a trusted steward of pri- tractor could leak details of acknowledging previous Advertisers who don't have into its privacy practices in
vacy. what is being said, includ- misuse. But it's not clear if it tax ID numbers, govern- Europe and across the U.S.,
As part of the apology ing parts of sensitive con- will be enough to stop bad ment websites or regis- in addition to new inves-
posted Wednesday, Ap- versations. actors from abusing its sys- trations with the Federal tigations into its allegedly
ple reiterated an earlier The backlash to the in- tem. Election Commission will anticompetitive behavior,
pledge to stop keeping dustry practice prompted The changes include a still be able to post ads such as the social network's
audio recorded through Siri Facebook and Google to tightened verification pro- by providing an address, habit of buying would-be ri-
unless consumers give their stop relying on people to cess that will require any- verifiable phone number, vals like Instagram and bla-
permission. transcribe recorded con- one wanting to run ads business email and web- tantly duplicating features
When permission is grant- versations. Amazon is con- pertaining to elections, site. These advertisers won't introduced by competing
ed, Apple said only its own tinuing the practice unless politics or big social issues get a "confirmed" designa- services.
employees will be allowed users of its digital assistant like guns and immigration tion. Previously, only a U.S. While the company has
to review audio to help im- Alexa explicitly demand to confirm their identity address was required. But beefed up its fight against
prove the service. Previous- that humans be blocked and prove they are in the it's not inconceivable that misinformation and coordi-
ly, the company hired con- from listening. U.S. Beginning in mid-Sep- bad actors will find a way nated attacks by malicious
tractors to listen to some Microsoft also is still doing it, tember, such advertisers to spoof phone numbers nation-states, the same
recordings. too, contending it has ad- confirm their group's identi- and email addresses. can be said for those trying
"We realize we haven't equate privacy safeguards ty using their organization's "We've acknowledged to game its systems. After
been fully living up to our in place for the Cortana tax identification number that these tools will not be revelations that that Rus-
high ideals, and for that we digital assistant. or other government ID. perfect," Sarah Schiff, a sians bankrolled thousands
apologize," Apple said. Apple intends to continue The verified group name Facebook product man- of fake political ads during
Apple would not say how it to rely upon computer- will be listed on the "paid ager, said in an email. "But the 2016 elections, Face-
will seek permission. In the generated transcripts of for by" disclaimers that dis- we are committed to mak- book and other social net-
past, the Cupertino, Cali- what's being said to Siri as close the backers of ads. ing it more difficult for bad works faced intense pres-
fornia, company has typi- part of effort to improve Facebook says it will verify actors to misuse and abuse sure to ensure that doesn't
cally requested permissions services, even if a user this information against our platform" without pe- happen again.
through prompts during hasn't explicitly granted government records and nalizing smaller organiza- In late 2017, Facebook said
software update installa- permission, or opted in. will note in the disclaimer tions. it will verify political ad buy-
tions. Unlike Facebook, Google for confirmed ads that Schiff also reiterated the ers by requiring them to
In recent months, Face- and Amazon, which track they're placed by a "con- company's calls for regula- confirm their names and
book, Google, Amazon, Mi- what people are doing firmed organization." tion of online political ad- locations, the latter by re-
crosoft and Apple have all and where they are going That process won't apply vertising. Critics have said ceiving a postcard with a
acknowledged that peo- to sell ads and merchan- to everyone, as Facebook that Facebook's attempts confirmation code at a U.S.
ple have been reviewing dise, Apple has conspicu- says it would bar some at self-regulation are mere- address. Page administra-
users' interactions with arti- ously emphasized that that smaller but legitimate ly a way for the company tors also had to be verified.
ficial intelligence assistants it has no interest in peering groups from advertising. to pre-empt stricter govern- But critics said the rules
in order to improve the ser- into its customers' lives.q But a loophole that will al- ment crackdowns. were easy to evade.q