Latest news with #eavesdropping
Forbes
a day ago
- Forbes
The Siri Payout Deadline Is Days Away—How To File A Claim Now
The deadline to apply for a payout as part of the Apple Siri eavesdropping lawsuit is just days ... More away, on July 2. The deadline to apply for a payout as part of the Apple Siri eavesdropping class action lawsuit is just days away, on July 2. If you fail to file your claim as part of the Siri class action lawsuit, you won't have the opportunity to get your share of up to $100 dollars per person as part of the payout agreed by Apple back in Jan. The class action alleges that Siri was listening to Apple users without their permission and serving them adverts as a result. Apple denies eavesdropping but says it has settled the case to avoid costly litigation. Here is how to work out if you are eligible and claim your share of the Siri settlement before the deadline. Who Is Eligible For The Siri Payout? First things first, the Siri eavesdropping class action lawsuit applies to U.S. Apple Siri users only. Specifically, you need to have owned a Siri-enabled device such as an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or MacBook and experienced the voice assistant being activated unintentionally during a private conversation. This needs to have taken place between Sept. 17 2024 and Dec. 31 2024. Some people who are eligible for the Siri payout will have been sent an email or postcard including a Claim Identification Code and Confirmation Code. You should use these when filling in the Claim Form. Others who think they should be allowed to make a claim can do so by visiting the Submit a Claim page and following the instructions there. How Much Can I Claim In The Siri Payout? Now for the all-important question. You can claim $20 dollars for each of the Apple devices you own, up to five devices. This adds up to a maximum of $100 from the Siri eavesdropping class action lawsuit payout. As is the case with lawsuits of this kind, the amount could be bigger or smaller pro rata depending on how many valid claims are received and how many devices included. The total Siri class action payout is $95 million. What Happens Next? You have a few days until the deadline, so make sure you get your claim for the Siri class action lawsuit payout in now if you haven't already. The final approval hearing will take place on Aug.1 2025, soon after which you could get your payment.
Irish Times
16-06-2025
- Irish Times
Alison Healy on a woman who became one of the world's first and most fearless aviators
The two middle-aged women sitting opposite me on the train were chatting animatedly. I was shamelessly eavesdropping, as is mandatory in such situations. One of them was talking about her adventure-seeking daughter and noted that she was 'mad for road.' It's an apt description for someone who can't stay in one place for long and has a constant yearning to travel. Years ago, it was used in a somewhat critical way, especially if a woman was involved. It seemed to suggest that she would be better employed scrubbing dried scrambled eggs from a saucepan rather than travelling the country's highways and byways. But to me, being mad for road is something to be admired. I was unabashedly mad for road from a very young age. One day, when I was small, I noticed my mother was changing into her good clothes and I asked where she was going. She said she was off to America. READ MORE Did I want to come? Well, I didn't need to be asked twice. I changed into my Sunday clothes as speedily as possible in case she left without me. You can imagine the crushing disappointment when she emerged with her tartan shopping bag and said she was off to the town on her bicycle to get the messages. No airplane required. Now well recovered from that small setback, I am still mad for road and plan to remain so until forced to make that very final one-way journey. But I still have a long way to go before catching up with Clara Adams. Born in Ohio in 1884, she is largely forgotten today despite being one of the original influencers. S he called herself a persistent first flighter, one of those people who flew on maiden flights when air travel was taking off. She gave lectures about her trips and helped to popularise air travel with the masses. She could do this because of her wealth. Her marriage to George Adams, president of the American Leather Tanning company, meant she had no money worries. He was more than 30 years her senior and she was just 44 when he died, leaving her truly free to indulge her longing for the skies. Details of her epic odysseys could fill this entire page, but let's highlight a few. In 1928 she bought the first transatlantic air ticket ever sold to a woman and flew on the Graf Zeppelin airship from New York to Europe. In 1931 she was the first woman to buy a ticket to fly on the largest aircraft ever built at that time - the Dornier DO-X flying boat. She boarded in Rio de Janeiro and flew to New York. 'You could hardly tell you were flying,' she told the New York Times afterwards. When the Hindenburg made its maiden flight from Germany in 1936, she was at the top of the queue. And immediately after the Hindenburg disaster the following year, she put down a $100 deposit for another airship flight, to demonstrate her confidence in the safety of air travel. She was also aboard many Pan Am Clippers for their inaugural flights, including the first passenger flight across the Pacific, and the first flight from New York to Bermuda. But her most famous trip came in June 1939 when she set a world record for an around-the-world flight made on passenger airlines. It took her 16 days and 19 hours and took her from New York to Marseilles and on to places such as Leipzig, Athens, Basra, Jodhpur, Bangkok, Guam and Honolulu. One would imagine that she was exhausted after all that, but, fresh off the plane in New York, she hot-footed it to the World Fair in Queens to talk about her aerial adventures. The New York Times reported that she was wearing a Chinese silk suit bought in Hong Kong, and a Panama hat from Rangoon. She described the trip as 'beautiful beyond description and sublime beyond the most vivid imagination of the human mind.' Similar to something you might say after disembarking from a Ryanair plane in Leeds. The maiden of maiden voyages wasn't done yet. The following September, she flew from San Francisco to New Zealand on Pan Am's first passenger flight. The small matter of the second World War put a halt to her travels and then there were no more maiden flights to take. She offered to go to the moon in 1966 but that was one inaugural flight she couldn't buy a ticket for. Fittingly, her travelling did not end with her death in 1971. At her request, her ashes were scattered over the Atlantic Ocean from an airplane. Now there's a woman who was mad for road. And sky.
The Independent
12-06-2025
- Science
- The Independent
A grassland bird eavesdrops on prairie dog calls to keep itself safe from predators
Prairie dogs are the Paul Reveres of the Great Plains: They bark to alert neighbors to the presence of predators, with separate calls for dangers coming by land or by air. 'Prairie dogs are on the menu for just about every predator you can think of'— golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, foxes, badgers, even large snakes — said Andy Boyce, a research ecologist in Montana at the Smithsonian 's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Those predators will also snack on grassland nesting birds like the long-billed curlew. To protect themselves, the curlews eavesdrop on the alarms coming from prairie dog colonies, according to research published Thursday in the journal Animal Behavior. Previous research has shown birds frequently eavesdrop on other bird species to glean information about potential food sources or approaching danger, said Georgetown University ornithologist Emily Williams, who was not involved in the study. But, so far, scientists have documented only a few instances of birds eavesdropping on mammals. 'That doesn't necessarily mean it's rare in the wild,' she said, 'it just means we haven't studied it yet.' Prairie dogs live in large colonies with a series of burrows that may stretch for miles underground. When they hear one each other's barks, they either stand alert watching or dive into their burrows to avoid approaching talons and claws. 'Those little barks are very loud — they can carry quite a long way,' said co-author Andrew Dreelin, who also works for the Smithsonian. The long-billed curlew nests in short-grass prairie and incubates eggs on a ground nest. When one hears the prairie dog alarm, she responds by pressing her head, beak and belly close to the ground. In this crouched position, the birds 'rely on the incredible camouflage of their feathers to become essentially invisible on the Plains,' Dreelin said. To test just how alert the birds were to prairie dog chatter, researchers created a fake predator by strapping a taxidermied badger onto a small remote-controlled vehicle. They sent this badger rolling over the prairie of north-central Montana toward curlew nests — sometimes in silence and sometimes while playing recorded prairie dog barks. When the barks were played, curlews ducked into the grass quickly, hiding when the badger was around 160 feet (49 meters) away. Without the barks, the remote-controlled badger got within about 52 feet (16 meters) of the nests before the curlews appeared to sense danger. 'You have a much higher chance of avoiding predation if you go into that cryptic posture sooner — and the birds do when they hear prairie dogs barking,' said co-author Holly Jones, a conservation biologist at Northern Illinois University. Prairie dogs are often thought of as 'environmental engineers,' she said, because they construct extensive burrows and nibble down prairie grass, keeping short-grass ecosystems intact. 'But now we are realizing they are also shaping the ecosystems by producing and spreading information,' she said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Associated Press
12-06-2025
- Science
- Associated Press
A grassland bird eavesdrops on prairie dog calls to keep itself safe from predators
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prairie dogs are the Paul Reveres of the Great Plains: They bark to alert neighbors to the presence of predators, with separate calls for dangers coming by land or by air. 'Prairie dogs are on the menu for just about every predator you can think of'— golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, foxes, badgers, even large snakes — said Andy Boyce, a research ecologist in Montana at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Those predators will also snack on grassland nesting birds like the long-billed curlew. To protect themselves, the curlews eavesdrop on the alarms coming from prairie dog colonies, according to research published Thursday in the journal Animal Behavior. Previous research has shown birds frequently eavesdrop on other bird species to glean information about potential food sources or approaching danger, said Georgetown University ornithologist Emily Williams, who was not involved in the study. But, so far, scientists have documented only a few instances of birds eavesdropping on mammals. 'That doesn't necessarily mean it's rare in the wild,' she said, 'it just means we haven't studied it yet.' Prairie dogs live in large colonies with a series of burrows that may stretch for miles underground. When they hear one each other's barks, they either stand alert watching or dive into their burrows to avoid approaching talons and claws. 'Those little barks are very loud — they can carry quite a long way,' said co-author Andrew Dreelin, who also works for the Smithsonian. The long-billed curlew nests in short-grass prairie and incubates eggs on a ground nest. When one hears the prairie dog alarm, she responds by pressing her head, beak and belly close to the ground. In this crouched position, the birds 'rely on the incredible camouflage of their feathers to become essentially invisible on the Plains,' Dreelin said. To test just how alert the birds were to prairie dog chatter, researchers created a fake predator by strapping a taxidermied badger onto a small remote-controlled vehicle. They sent this badger rolling over the prairie of north-central Montana toward curlew nests — sometimes in silence and sometimes while playing recorded prairie dog barks. When the barks were played, curlews ducked into the grass quickly, hiding when the badger was around 160 feet (49 meters) away. Without the barks, the remote-controlled badger got within about 52 feet (16 meters) of the nests before the curlews appeared to sense danger. 'You have a much higher chance of avoiding predation if you go into that cryptic posture sooner — and the birds do when they hear prairie dogs barking,' said co-author Holly Jones, a conservation biologist at Northern Illinois University. Prairie dogs are often thought of as 'environmental engineers,' she said, because they construct extensive burrows and nibble down prairie grass, keeping short-grass ecosystems intact. 'But now we are realizing they are also shaping the ecosystems by producing and spreading information,' she said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Forbes
06-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Apple Siri Eavesdropping Payout Approved—Here's How To Make A Claim
Apple users can now apply to claim their share of a $95 million cash payout to settle a class action ... More case alleging Siri eavesdropping. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Apple users can now apply to claim their share of a $95 million cash payout to settle a class action case alleging Siri eavesdropping . In Jan., I reported how the iPhone maker agreed to pay $95 million in preliminary settlement, filed Dec. 13, 2024, in Oakland, California. The class action lawsuit alleges that Apple was infringing its users' privacy by capturing Siri conversations without their knowledge or consent and sharing this with advertisers. The claims date back to 2019, when U.K. newspaper The Guardian reported that Siri contractors were listening to Apple users' conversations with the voice assistant. According to the article, the contractors heard people talking to their doctor, sexual encounters and even drug deals. The Siri settlement has now been approved, with a page published on May 9 in the case of Lopez v. Apple Inc . 'A settlement has been reached with Apple Inc. in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of current or former owners or purchasers of a Siri-enabled iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iMac, HomePod, iPod touch, or Apple TV whose confidential or private communications were allegedly obtained by Apple and/or shared with third parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation,' the page reads. 'Apple denies all of the allegations made in the lawsuit and denies that [it] did anything improper or unlawful,' the page adds. Apple has said previously that it is settling the Siri case to avoid costly litigation. So, how do you claim your share of the Apple Siri eavesdropping payout? Who Is Eligible For The Siri Eavesdropping Payout? Anyone who lives in the U.S., owned a Siri-enabled device and experienced an unintended activation of the voice assistant during a confidential or private communication between Sept. 17, 2014 and Dec. 31, 2024, can make a claim. If you owned an Apple device such as an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or MacBook and Siri activated unintentionally during that period, you should have received an email or postcard including a Claim identification Code and Confirmation Code. If you didn't receive one of these and you think you are eligible for the Siri payout, you can still apply. However, be clear that you will need to share under oath that you experienced Siri activating by accident and that your private conversations were recorded by the voice assistant. How Much Can I Claim For Siri Eavesdropping? If you fit the criteria to claim for the Siri eavesdropping payout, you can claim $20 for each of the devices you use, up to five Apple devices. That means you can claim up to $100 from Apple. The amount available will increase or decrease pro rata depending on the total number of valid claims submitted, and Siri devices claimed. How Can I Make A Claim For The Siri Payout? If you received the email or postcard, use the codes when making a claim via a valid Claim Form. If you didn't receive anything, but you think you are eligible to claim, go to the Submit a Claim page and follow the instructions on how to submit a Claim Form. What Is The Deadline For Claims? The deadline to file your claim in the Siri eavesdropping case is Jul. 2, with the final approval hearing to take place on Aug. 1, 2025. I asked Apple for a comment on the Siri eavesdropping case and the payout and will update this article if the iPhone maker responds.
