Amazon $AMZN and Apple $AAPL are drawing legal questions over AI wearables that listen throughout the day, with attorneys and law professors saying state wiretap laws may cover the devices, according to CNBC.
Apple Watch Series 12, which debuted in September, will include Siri Recap, a feature that jots down notes as the day goes on and produces recaps of what people said, according to CNBC. Apple says the feature keeps no audio, never transmits recordings to its servers and involves no human reviewers. Amazon has said its Bee devices keep no audio and that it handles conversations in a setting where "no one, including Amazon, can access your data," according to CNBC.
Those assurances may still leave the law unsettled. Some of these products are able to monitor conversations, parse what is said and pull out its meaning while discarding the audio itself, which prompts an unresolved question over whether such processing counts as illegal interception, according to CNBC. Many state laws focus on whether someone intercepted a private communication or obtained what it contained, not on whether a typical recording was made.
Colin Zick, a privacy and data security attorney at Foley Hoag, told CNBC that under Massachusetts law, an intercepting device covers any equipment capable of "transmitting, receiving, amplifying, or recording" a communication. In his view, a gadget that takes in spoken words and outputs a text summary might meet that definition even if it never saves an audio file.
"A non-wearer did not buy the watch, agree to Apple's terms, or choose to have their conversation summarized in the app," Zick said, according to CNBC.
Daniel Pi, an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, told CNBC he thinks the new audio capabilities on the Apple Watch would amount to an interception under New Hampshire's statute, which reaches the "aural or other acquisition" of a communication's contents. A wearer in the state could be exposed to civil or criminal penalties, Pi said, but an actual prosecution is much less likely. He said it would surprise him if prosecutors brought a case over a violation that hurt no one.
Michael Stokes, who previously worked as a CIA officer and is now Veilant's senior vice president of emerging technologies, told CNBC the devices create a "bystander problem," in which people can be surveilled without owning the technology. CNBC listed Meta $META's smart glasses, which are able to shoot photos and video and save voice memos, among the devices that have stoked worries about hidden recording.
Amazon unveiled the Bee Frontier wearable and the Bee Eclipse on Oct. 15. The Frontier costs $74.99, and the Eclipse starts at $99.99. Amazon said an LED light shows when each device is on and that users are prompted to get permission from call participants each time a recording starts.
Amazon altered Bee after acquiring the startup last year, so the device no longer listens in and summarizes conversations automatically, according to Bloomberg. Users must now tap a button before any audio is recorded. Apple has also come under scrutiny for upcoming Apple Watch features that may capture conversations nearby without asking users to obtain others' consent, according to Bloomberg.