One can think Apple's decision was wrong while also thinking it wasn't intentionally malicious. Five or more years ago, I gave FB & Google the benefit of the d

One can think Apple's decision was wrong while also thinking it wasn't intentionally malicious. Five or more years ago, I gave FB & Google the benefit of the doubt—when the first few major privacy fiascos came to light, making it clear that it was a big deal and privacy needed to be cared about. Sadly, Facebook and Google have repeatedly shown themselves to be actively hostile to user privacy, and continue to double and triple down on invading privacy and breaching trust. They've been the giants who have proven the need for making privacy a primary concern of all tech hardware/software—because they are dependent on breaching and invading privacy to earn their income. Apple does not depend on providing third parties access to identifiable data and profiles to better target ads, identify users, and destroy privacy and anonymity to earn their income. This pretty much means a wholly different default outlook from Facebook and Google. Apple continues to not just market, but take active steps toward increasing privacy and data protection for its users across its hardware lineup. I'm not at all suggesting Apple isn't worthy of criticism when they fuck up—they absolutely are. I'm only responding to the question of why a certain feature may not have been opt-in to begin with—when it appears obvious in retrospect that it should have been. In short, Apple still has my reserved, cautious trust. Facebook and Google have long since lost it, and I can't even imagine what they might be able to do to ever earn it back. When Apple starts building the privacy-related reputation that Google and Facebook have, I'll be all over the hate train. As it stands, as someone who believes he really cares about digital privacy for himself and others, I never thought about the fact that a Siri recording might be listened to by humans—but now, in retrospect, of course it was (I would have wanted to listen to recordings to grade my own software's responses), and of course it should have been opt-in to begin with.