IBM is banning Siri from operating on the company’s internal networks. In 2010, IBM adopted a “bring your own device” policy allowing employees to use non-company owned smartphones at work. But it appears that IBM’s previous policy isn’t helping the company. According to Jeanette Horan, Chief Information Officer of IBM, employees’ devices are full of software that IBM doesn’t control.
Since then, Horan’s team has established guidelines about which apps IBM employees can use and which they should avoid. On the list of banned apps are services including as Dropbox, iCloud and even Siri – the voice-activated personal assistant for the iPhone. “The company worries that the spoken queries might be stored somewhere,” Horan said.
IBM believes that Siri will ship everything you say to her to Apple’s big data center. Wired explained that IBM has all the right to be worried. Checking Apple’s iPhone Software License Agreement, the following is written: When you use Siri or Dictation, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple in order to convert what you say into text.
But Siri developer Edward Wrenbeck said that privacy was always a big concern with Siri. But Wrenbeck commented that it is something not to be worried about. “People are already doing things on these mobile devices. Maybe Siri makes their life a little bit easier, but it’s not exactly opening up a new avenue that wasn’t there before,” he said.