AirPods Live Translation Feature Won't Launch in EU Markets (macrumors.com) 44
Apple's Live Translation feature for AirPods won't reach European Union users when it launches next week. The restriction applies to users physically located in the EU who also have EU-registered Apple Accounts. Apple hasn't specified reasons for the limitation, though the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act and GDPR impose requirements on speech processing and translation services.
The feature enables real-time translation between English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, and the newly announced AirPods Pro 3. Translation requires iOS 26 on iPhone 15 Pro or newer models.
The feature enables real-time translation between English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, and the newly announced AirPods Pro 3. Translation requires iOS 26 on iPhone 15 Pro or newer models.
Compliance risks? (Score:2)
If these compliance risks were real, the use of these tools would be strongly advised against.
Of course they aren't-
Re:Compliance risks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Precisely.
When anyone pulls the GDPR card it's almost always cause they're marketing your private data to everyone and their uncle.
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Not even remotely true. I work for a software company that has both a global SaaS and software business. We don't sell any data, private or not, about our customers or their software usage to anyone whatsoever. That's just not our business model. We make money selling software and services, not selling your data or data about you.
Despite this, we spend an extraordinary amount of time and energy on GDPR compliance. GDPR is about much more than how you can or can't sell data. It's also about how you manage an
Re:Compliance risks? (Score:4, Interesting)
Not even remotely true. I work for a software company that has both a global SaaS and software business. We don't sell any data, private or not, about our customers or their software usage to anyone whatsoever. That's just not our business model. We make money selling software and services, not selling your data or data about you.
Despite this, we spend an extraordinary amount of time and energy on GDPR compliance. GDPR is about much more than how you can or can't sell data. It's also about how you manage and store that data even if only ever the owning customer (and us as the vendor) have access to it.
Unfortunately for every one of you there are at least ten others that behave the exact opposite way.
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Not even remotely true. I work for a software company that has both a global SaaS and software business. We don't sell any data, private or not, about our customers or their software usage to anyone whatsoever. That's just not our business model. We make money selling software and services, not selling your data or data about you.
Despite this, we spend an extraordinary amount of time and energy on GDPR compliance. GDPR is about much more than how you can or can't sell data. It's also about how you manage and store that data even if only ever the owning customer (and us as the vendor) have access to it.
Unfortunately for every one of you there are at least ten others that behave the exact opposite way.
I also deal with GDPR, it's important for all the reasons that people don't talk about. A lot of our personal data ends up in the hands of bad actors because organisations who aren't expressly selling it are getting compromised. North American carriers WestJet and Hawiian as well as Australian Airline QANTAS had their frequent flyer programs compromosed so all the data that was in there is now in the hands of the bad guys. I'm sure they didn't want this to happen but they secured it as cheaply as possible (
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Now companies like Apple are getting their knickers in a knot because they cant spy and sell data (whilst simultaneously trying to tell you they're not doing it) so they want to create a lot of hate against GDPR in the hopes that it'll prevent similar laws in other countries. They know the fight is lost in Europe, they're just hoping that they can stave it off in other parts of the world.
In your case, calling you a hater seems to be the most rational approach. You don't have any argument that isn't just based on insane paranoia, so there is nothing to refute.
Re:Compliance risks? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, not necessarily that far. If you might possibly ever have any sort of personal data even with no intent to actually do anything sketchy with the data, GPDR compliance is a pain.
But still for good reason, you are making yourself a steward of the data which, by any sane measure, should be a responsibility taken very seriously. If you don't like it, good, you have a strong motivator to actually implement the feature at the edge and do everything to avoid ever collecting the information and avoid retaining it even in the edge device.
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Precisely.
When anyone pulls the GDPR card it's almost always cause they're marketing your private data to everyone and their uncle.
It's more than just GDPR compliance, which can be substantial and why some companies block their websites from access by EU IP addresses. Apple, as a gatekeeper, is in the EU's crosshairs and on issue is interoperability. Apple sees this translation feature as a selling point, and if the EU were to require Apple to allow other manufacturers to access and offer it, they lose what they think I an important feature unique to AirPods. As a result, no soup for the EU.
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https://support.apple.com/guid... [apple.com]
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Yep. And the GDPR specifically forbids that without informed consent and anybody that buys this data needs to obtain informed consent as well within 1 month. Does not even matter if they cannot identify the person, they have to get that informed consent or any longer storage and any processing (except reliably anonymized) is illegal.
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Precisely.
When anyone pulls the GDPR card it's almost always cause they're marketing your private data to everyone and their uncle.
Marketing?
Lets use the correct verb here people, they're selling, selling your personal data to all and sundry. Lets not try to hide that behind ambiguous terms.
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The problem is probably that the input is sent to the US and stored there without informed consent. Plain translation, no storage (except short-term temporary) should be fine with the GDPR. So the problem is likely Apple, not EU law.
iOS 26??? Iâ(TM)m only on 18.6.2 (Score:1)
Re:iOS 26??? I'm only on 18.6.2 (Score:2)
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Checks Calendar
Yup, definitely Sept 26 so time to release it... I love version numbering schemes that aren't quite accurate
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Wonder if they'll use an Earth, Wind, And Fire song for the release?
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You've never bought a car before? The year x+1 model is always released toward the middle or end of the x year. The majority (ie. 3/4) of iOS 26's usage lifetime will be in 2026. 26 is a perfectly apt version number for the version released now.
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With things having yearly releases, it can be a bit of work trying to figure out what version came out when.
So switching to a yearly identifier helps a lot. It's hard enough to track say, which Ubuntu release goes to which animal name because the release name is used in some places. So having to identify which release this animal is can be an annoying experience.
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Think of it as the year the OS will be replaced.
So, in this case, iOS26 will be replaced in 2026.
Mon... (Score:2)
Monday, the 15th!
Off topic is there a cheap alternative to airpods? (Score:2)
I used to use ones from a company called Taotronics but they stopped making them and the ones I have are just wearing out as far as the batteries go.
I tried to set from Anker but the volume was way too low. I also try to set from Lenovo and those were fine except the batteries went to crap after a few months...
Samsung makes some decent stuf
Re: Off topic is there a cheap alternative to airp (Score:2)
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I miss the old Plantronics headsets the small ones. When airpods took over they stopped making them. To get one of those for 30 bucks and it would last me until I accidentally left it in my pants pocket and washed it
Surely... (Score:3)
This should apply to anyone LOCATED in the EU, not just those who have a EU Apple account. You shouldn't be recording and processing the voice and visuals of anyone in that space because you'd still be processing European data.
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Presumably, Apple thinks that "I went to another country and my expensive translator stopped working" has a higher risk of a lawsuit than "someone with airpods may have heard me regurgitate private information in a public space" does. Knowing how the EU has been operating over the last decade or so, I don't know that I agree with that assessment.
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That would be illegal. In fact, even possession of the US version while in some EU countries would be illegal, unless these clearly and visibly signal when they are recording. Worst case, you may have these seized when entering the EU.
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I interpret that to mean it will work if you are in the EU visiting and are neither a resident or have an EU ID.
And if you interpreted it like that you wouldn't be in compliance with not just the GDPR but data export laws as well. Visitors to the EU are subject to EU law.
Re: Surely... (Score:2)
No, I cry about people pretentious enough to think that recording others with their expensive toys, without respect for privacy, is acceptable.
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That's a lot of crying.
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This should apply to anyone LOCATED in the EU, not just those who have a EU Apple account. You shouldn't be recording and processing the voice and visuals of anyone in that space because you'd still be processing European data.
If it concerns GDPR seemingly they'd be under the exception: https://commission.europa.eu/l... [europa.eu]
When the regulation does not apply
Your company is service provider based outside the EU. It provides services to customers outside the EU. Its clients can use its services when they travel to other countries, including within the EU. Provided your company doesn't specifically target its services at individuals in the EU, it is not subject to the rules of the GDPR.
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Not really. If PID from EU citizens gets recorded, the exception does not apply. It just applies to the violation of the privacy of the device/software owner under the stated conditions when they travel to the EU. So Apple is allowed to continue to violate the privacy of an US iPhone owner when they travel to the EU, but not that of others there.
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Source?
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Your link. Maybe read the claims made there? Yes, it is a bit subtle. But if you, as the service user, record others, then these others become (involuntary) users of the service and that is not covered. You cannot simply go to the EU and violate the rights of the citizens there because your recording device is from outside the EU and you are too.
Also, obviously: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/lega... [europa.eu]
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Actually, for people where Apple does not block this in the EU, the person activating the device is doing something illegal. And unless these things clearly signal they are recoding, even possession is illegal in some EU countries, for example in Germany. In others you are not allowed to activate them unless everybody has given informed consent and that means all processing, storage, selling, etc. has been explained to them first. Pretty impossible.
Haha! (Score:2)
I love it!
Now watch them coming out of the woodwork crying about.
\o/ (Score:1)
So, without reading TFS, there's legislation to protect people from overt surveillance but none to protect them from squirting high frequency EM radiation directly within their skull via the ear canal?
Who'd have thunk?
Omelette Du Fromage was all it said in French (Score:2)
I feel this feature just isn't ready yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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I feel this feature just isn't ready yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
With Apple, by the time it's "ready", someone else will have done it better. Probably multiple someone elses.
It's going to be another Apple Maps. Google already has a very good voice translator.