With Apple Watch Eavesdropping Features, What Is at Stake Is Public Perception ⇥ manualdousuario.net

Rodrigo Ghedin on the Audio Intelligence features in the new Apple Watch models:

And… it doesn’t matter. The message that sticks in people’s minds is that the Apple Watch has become a constantly listening device. And although the new feature only works on the just-announced watches (Series 12 and Ultra 4), the distrust extends to every Apple Watch in use, since they are visually indistinguishable.

In an announcement lasting just a few minutes, Apple threw in the trash a decade plus effort of trying to convince people that their iPhones aren’t listening to their conversations to serve ads hours later.

Given the widespread belief in this conspiracy theory — in one study, over half of surveyed people believed it was a plausible explanation for targeted advertising — it is not surprising that some companies have cynically exploited public perception even as others, like Apple, desperately push back. I have seen people using the settled Siri lawsuit to argue Apple admitted to using audio recordings to target advertising. It can publish documentation (PDF) now just as it put out a press release then about Siri.

On some level, Apple must realize it does not matter; it, too, is taking advantage of this popular belief despite these features likely being respectful of privacy. If people already think anything with a microphone is why they see certain ads, why not have some kind of useful passive transcribing feature? (This rhetorical question answers itself if privacy and consent matter to you.)

These Audio Intelligence features would feel more at home in a higher-trust environment with better privacy legislation. Unfortunately, we live in a world where everyone is a conspiracy theorist and, paradoxically, so much of what we do is surveilled and recorded. The Apple Watch contributes to both perceptions — even if it does not work that way.