In May 2019, I was hired by Apple to check the transcripts of user recordings via their voice assistant Siri. I heard people talking about their cancer, referring to dead relatives, religion, pornography, politics, relationships, and drugs — people who had no intention to activate Siri whatsoever. This is my story of blowing the whistle on Apple’s mass surveillance operation.
I never wanted a job in tech. I completed my master’s degree in Sociology at Paris Sorbonne University in 2018 and went about looking for a job, but this proved more challenging than I expected. I spent eight months unemployed without finding anything. In April 2019, I was sent a confidential potential offer through one of the job boards I had subscribed to. The email asked if I was interested in applying for a role that was described as a data analyst for Apple, via a subcontractor called GlobeTech. The job was based in Cork, Ireland and had a good salary attached, but few details about the actual work.
First Impressions
I started the recruitment process, assuming they would tell me more about what the job entailed. This was not the case. In fact, everything seemed to be intentionally opaque and, in retrospect, very shady. I was given no details about the project I would be working on or who I would be working with during the interview.
The only requirements they said they had of me were to be proficient in French and comfortable with tedious, repetitive tasks. Despite the warnings about the monotonous nature of the job, this was my first job opportunity since graduating, and to be offered a job working abroad with a decent salary was very appealing. So I decided to move forward with the recruitment process. During the second interview they offered me the position, and gave me a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and employee contract then and there, which I signed. At the time I did not think much about what an NDA might mean and I didn’t really have time to look at the fine detail of the contract.
I was told that GlobeTech would offer me a travel package that included accommodation for a month and cover the costs of the flights from France. I arrived in Cork two weeks after accepting the job to start the training program, which I was told would last a week. However, what they didn’t tell me was that this was also a test to see if me and my fellow co-workers were up to the job.
By the end of that first week, if you did not meet up to their standards, you were fired. I saw people who, like me, had packed up everything and travelled from France and were fired three days later. It was shocking. The main message that was drilled into us during the training was that we must not talk to our friends or family about the job. Most importantly, we were told never to speak to the press. I wasn’t even allowed to talk to my co-workers about the work we were doing.
Hey, Siri
It was not until my first day on the job — May 13, 2019 — that I fully understood what I was employed to do.
An average day would start at 7:45 am: I would clock in, then log into the VPN, check what my assignments were that day and whether any had changed, and my workday would begin. The assignments were specific recordings that I would listen to and check against the first transcript Siri had done. Underneath each recording and transcript was a box in which I had to correct whatever Siri got wrong. The corrections could be as simple as capitalizing certain words or ensuring that Siri had identified trademarks correctly, and then I would go on to the next one. I had to listen to 1300 recordings a day in order to hit my target.
Our human team was essentially beneath the algorithms, doing what the machine couldn’t do itself. But it was not just an administrative exercise. What I was doing felt very wrong and invasive. I was listening to conversations people were having about their cancer treatments, intimate conversations with family and others about sex and relationships. I remember the second Monday I spent in Ireland, I just felt trapped. I knew that I couldn’t go back to France because I was broke. At that point, I thought that if I left I would have to reimburse them all of the money they had paid to get me there, which would have been 1000 to 1500 euros at least. I realized later that they would take the money out of my pay, but at the time I really felt boxed in and I didn’t know what to do. So I just tried to accept it and get on with it.
I did start to share my concerns with my co-workers, though. A lot of them were like me, recent graduates who were struggling to find a job in their chosen field. I was surrounded by talented musicians, philosophers, archaeologists . . . you name it, we had it. I asked them if they thought what we were doing was morally wrong. Some people agreed with me, but others were of the opinion that no one really cared about our “little lives.” But to me it felt a bit different when our “little lives” involved us listening to 80,000 other little lives all day, every day. It felt big.
The Workplace
When we first started working, the managers were very welcoming and nice. But we soon learned that if you didn’t meet your targets there was little room for sympathy. There were always two managers present — one from Apple, one from GlobeTech. The manager from Apple was responsible for training and monitoring our behavior to ensure we weren’t talking too much. It felt like I was back at school. The GlobeTech manager was our immediate manager, responsible for ensuring we hit our targets and had the power to fire us. Colleagues would regularly get a tap on the shoulder from management to have a word in their office and were never seen again.
It was strange. Despite the “highly” confidential nature of the work that we were all supposedly entrusted to safeguard, we were also all treated as very expendable. The operation was getting bigger and bigger and it seemed that the more people were coming into the office, the more they were being chewed up and spat out. The sole emphasis was on meeting our targets.
Just as you would start to get to know and feel comfortable with your colleagues — the people who ultimately helped you get through an otherwise grueling job — they would be fired within weeks of arriving. Even if they stayed, though, it was hard to get to know people as the manager from Apple was adamant the work environment should be as quiet as possible. If we spoke to one another, he told us, we would “pollute the data” we were listening to and transcribing. We were checking the work of machines and expected to churn through it like machines. After a few weeks I started to become numb to what I was listening to.
The Recording that Changed Everything
But it was not long before I heard a recording that truly disturbed me. It was a recording of an individual describing a sexual fantasy they had involving children. I was so disgusted to hear someone talking about pedophilia that I flagged this recording to my manager. During our training management told us that the nature of the job necessarily involved having to listen to people who were going to say anything, including things that were criminal in intent, pornographic in content, or simply disturbing. They also made it clear that the only reason that we should talk directly to managers about a recording was if we found it emotionally distressing.
So when I told my manager — the one from Apple, not GlobeTech — he thanked me for bringing it to his attention but I heard nothing further from him for the rest of the day. The next morning my GlobeTech manager tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to come to the office. The manager told me they had someone else check the recording to ensure that what I reported was true. I was appalled they had made someone else listen to it, as it would be clearly very hard for anyone to listen to.
They made a point of asking me if there was any support they could offer me, but were also very clear that GlobeTech didn’t offer a health plan to employees who had worked there less than six months, and so there was not much they could to do help. My contract was only six months long and by this point, I had only worked there around three months.
The only support they said they could provide me with was a helpline number. I was told I could call the number from an office separate from the open space where we normally worked. The operator asked why I was calling and went through set of questions. The most important thing that she wanted to know and seemed obliged to find out from me was whether I was suicidal or not. When I told her I was not suicidal, that pretty much ended the call.
It was clear there wasn’t a psychologist or trained counsellor at the other end of line who could help me process the fact that I had listened to was very upsetting and had made me angry. The whole experience left me feeling even more helpless than I already felt. Interestingly, the hotline was obviously a service independent of GlobeTech because the operator wanted to know why I hadn’t called the police. Even she thought this was potentially a criminal matter. This was not something that Apple or GlobeTech management seemed to have even considered doing, and they had certainly not suggested that I do so. I explained the recording dated back perhaps two or as long as four months ago and was from another country. The way the assignments were allocated to us ensured that we did not know, and could not trace the source of any recording. Only Apple had that power and clearly they were unwilling to do that.
In public, Apple pretends it cares about privacy, but it really doesn’t. What they do care about is making sure that they’re not liable in any possible way. So all of those things we heard through these recordings — even those indicating a potential crime and that we were told that listening to was just part of the job — we clearly weren’t supposed to flag them so that they could be addressed.
The helpline operator took my phone number and said they would follow up with me. They left me waiting for four or five days and by that time, I didn’t think there was much they could do to help.
Documenting
Despite the fact that at that moment I felt completely powerless and full of anger, I knew I was going to do something. I decided that not only was I going to leave the job, but I was going to take as many screenshots as I could with me.
I was really scared at first, because I thought that we were being monitored all the time and that even plugging in a USB stick would immediately set off some sort of alarm in the company. From the beginning of my time at Apple, I had already started to write down some names and phone numbers, and noted some of the recordings that I found disturbing, interesting, or very peculiar. This was more out of habit from my academic studies, but also because it had all seemed so strange. Now I had a serious purpose.
After I heard the pedophilia recording, I started to take 10 or 20 screenshots a day. It was surprisingly easy to do and I quickly realized how poor the security really was at the company. I began to look into their Confluence pages — which is a sort of internal Wikipedia — and had a glimpse at what the developers thought of Siri, how they defined it, and what they determined to be “sensitive topics” they needed to take care of or keep an eye on in some way. For example, in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement many of Siri’s responses were identified as misogynistic and it was clear that people were actively trying to adjust the system to stop that happening. It seemed pretty obvious to me that the developer team had not realized beforehand that Siri was inherently misogynistic. I’d also guess that most of the developers were male at the time and unaware of the biases they’d written into the vocal assistant.
Quitting Apple
Perhaps a week or so after I’d heard the disturbing and potentially criminal recording, I had booked a one-way ticket to France, leaving on a Friday evening. I did not inform my management beforehand but I knew I wasn’t going to return.
It was such a relief to be away from the job and to know I didn’t have to go back was like having a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I spent a really great weekend with friends relaxing at a music festival. But after that weekend, my phone started ringing. It was an Irish number so I ignored it. Then the landline at my Dad’s house started ringing and I ignored that as well. Then I started getting emails asking why I hadn’t shown up for work. I still did not respond.
Four days later I received a termination letter which said something along the lines of we are firing you for not showing up, please sign this document to acknowledge it. I happily signed it. They then proceeded to remove the money they had spent on my travel and accommodation at the start the job, leaving me with an empty final paycheck.
Blowing the Whistle
Once I was back in France, I started talking about my experience with friends and family. They were shocked at first but also very hesitant about me pursuing it further or going public with the story. People around me told me I wasn’t going to change anything and that the NDA that I signed meant that Apple could sue me and that I would owe them a lot of money. They encouraged me to lay low. I really didn’t know anyone else to talk to about my concerns.
But then I saw other Apple contractors coming forward in The Guardian and I knew I wanted to share my experiences, too. They had the guts to go through with it and I felt I should do the same thing — that it was important to support them and provide more information about what was really happening at Apple.
I sent off emails to The Guardian newspaper and to Mediapart, a renowned investigative journalism platform in France. I forwarded them a link to the Guardian story and told them where to contact me. I was very concerned about revealing my identity and getting in to trouble before I had a chance to make a difference, so I didn’t use my own cell phone. Instead, I used an alias e-mail address and then I met with a French journalist in person. He published a story on August 30, 2019, based on the information I provided without naming me. This was my first contact with the press.
In November 2019, the same journalist from Mediapart put me in contact with the sociologist Antonio Casilli, who told me about a documentary filmmaker who wanted to interview me on camera. Again, I was hesitant, but they assured me by suggesting they would film me in two different ways, one way would allow me to remain anonymous, and the other showing my face. They left me until the very end of January 2020 to decide which way I wanted to go.
I was unsure for a long time and it was really only at the last moment, I decided to go public. I had thought about it for a long time, but I have to admit when the time came to make the final decision, it was sudden. I really just went with my gut feeling that it was important to do and that I shouldn’t have to hide myself.
At that point, I also decided that this was going to be something I would dedicate myself to trying to get addressed. I was flabbergasted by the fact that this thing had gone public, that journalists had reported on it with all this proof that Apple was creating a surveillance enterprise — spying on people without their consent, using them to perfect their algorithms, and failing to address serious harms that they knew about because of their spying — and yet still no action was being taken against the company to stop them.
I asked myself: if people like me weren’t willing to come forward, would anything change? As more and more time goes by, I think the answer is clearly no. If I hadn’t gone public, along with the few others that have done so, then what was going on at Apple would have just disappeared into the ether like all the other stories we have about big tech. And even then, I’m still not sure my efforts are going to make a difference.
Not too long after the documentary was aired, I drafted a public letter to the Data Protection Authorities in Europe which was published on May 28, 2020. I stated:
“I am extremely concerned that big tech companies are basically wiretapping entire populations despite European citizens being told the EU has one of the strongest data protection laws in the world. Passing a law is not good enough: it needs to be enforced upon privacy offenders.”
The letter got a lot of media coverage all over Europe. Ultimately, however little has been done by the Data Protection Authorities, so now I have legal counsel here in France to advise me as I push this further, and I am trying to get in touch with politicians.
Members of the European Parliament sent a letter to the European Commission, which means the European Commission cannot ignore the subject. They have to answer two questions in particular. The first question — and the most important one to me — is why is the GDPR applied in certain countries and to certain companies, and not to others? And the second question is, why is the DPC — the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland — not doing its job?
Apple has publicly apologized and stated that it had stopped outsourcing the reviewing of its recordings. The company also promised it would only review recordings from users who had explicitly opted in to the practice. But Apple only has to pretend to care about privacy. So far it has faced no consequences for spying on people without their knowledge and that is just not good enough. The program is ongoing, and they are able to detect whatever is said in the vicinity of an Apple device with frightening accuracy. These audio snippets were used at the time, and I believe they are still being used, in addition to other data sources to perfect the algorithms. This means that whatever is said in an audio recording will be compared to the user’s data – and the data in an iPhone includes other people’s privacy: the people in the contact list, in the photos, etc.
Aftermath
Looking back on my whistleblowing journey, my only regret is that I didn’t come forward sooner after I left Apple. I also regret failing to gather more screenshots and pictures, which I could have done had I blown the whistle while still working at Apple. The act of documenting what was happening was hugely important to me and I did what I could in a stressful situation. I felt I needed some solid proof of what was going on because one can’t rely on memory alone, and my testimony would never had been deemed good enough.
Because I had proof I didn’t stray from the facts. In my case it is a global company with unlimited resources and strong legal and communications teams, so I needed to have reliable proof in case I had to defend myself. But I also wanted to show that my allegations weren’t those of a bitter employee seeking revenge.
I think one of the most important things to consider when going public with your story is how to create a strategy and connect to a network of people who can guide you. Finding the right people who are willing to help you is incredibly difficult but essential.
Legal experts, NGOs, and journalists can help guide you about the correct channels to go through, particularly if you are wanting to change things and get your story out there. I really didn’t expect it to be as difficult as it was and there were many unrewarding times prior to blowing the whistle.
The person I have found most helpful so far has been my legal counsel. After the documentary went public, a lawyer got in touch and offered to help me pro bono. She helped me navigate the NDAs and has given me invaluable advice. The people who I was in contact with the most and trusted at the beginning of my whistleblowing journey were journalists like Olivier Tesquet at Mediapart. Organizations such as NOYB and The Signals Network were also very helpful in providing me with contacts and helping me draft letters. These people were very important because they have given me so much insight — their expertise is unmatched.
I know I am still at the beginning of this journey. I’ve been told that what I did was very brave, but I don’t feel like it’s extremely brave — or, rather, I don’t think it should be seen as such. For me it felt more like a refusal to obey, and a duty to inform. I think perhaps I am more of a rebel than I am a brave person. I really couldn’t stand by and let a powerful company get away with so much.
The pandemic has slowed the momentum of this case slightly, but I am not going to give up. I’ve been busy writing to MPs and working on collective ways to stand up to Apple. Despite the risks I have taken in coming forward, once I decided that I was going to act my fears and anxieties were greatly eased. I think it helped to take back control of the situation as much as one person can.
It has been a year and a half since I went public, and I didn’t expect to be where I am today because at the time it was very disheartening. At so many points I felt really powerless and helpless, as if what I was doing was futile. I still do feel like that quite often. But I am determined not to stop until companies like Apple face serious consequences. To be honest, there are so few opportunities for individuals to take real action to challenge these powerful companies. I realized that this was an opportunity to actually act and make a difference. This is not personal; this is political. I jumped into it, and now I am not going to let it go.
Facts & Statistics
- According to a 2018 Juniper Research Study there will be 8 billion digital voice assistants in use by 2023.
- A 2019 Microsoft Report found 41% of Vocal Assistant users have concerns about trust, privacy and passive listening.
- Amazon also employed workers to listen to user conversation with their Voice Assistant which also raised concerns about digital privacy.
