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Should iPhone 4s Siri locate abortion clinics? ACLU says 'Yes'
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A CNN report claims the American Civil Liberties Union is asking Apple to add an additional feature to the iPhone 4s Siri capabilities -- locating abortion clinics. Siri, the phone's speech-recognition "personal assistant," is able to locate information on Viagra, drugstores and bars, and should therefore be able to find abortion clinics, the report said.
The ACLU has sent out an online petition to improve Siri. What are your thoughts on this?
(CNN) -- Siri can help you find drugstores and bars, but the iPhone 4S digital assistant is clueless when it comes to the locations of abortion clinics, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The advocacy group this week launched an online petition asking people to send e-mails to Apple saying that "if Siri can tell us about Viagra, it should not provide bad or no information about contraceptives or abortion care. Send a message to Apple: Fix Siri." "Although it isn't clear that Apple is intentionally trying to promote an anti-choice agenda, it is distressing that Siri can point you to Viagra, but not the Pill, or help you find an escort, but not an abortion clinic," the group wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "We're confident that the developers at Apple want to provide iPhone users with accurate information." Apple said Thursday the omission was not intentional: "Our customers want to use Siri to find out all types of information and while it can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said. "These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone. It simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks." Siri: Apple's new voice recognition Siri: Apple's new voice recognition In an informal test by CNN, Siri was able to provide some information about reproductive health services, including where you can buy a condom, but she still could not answer the question, "Where can I get an abortion?" The digital assistant's reply: "Sorry, I couldn't find any abortion clinics." When asked about Planned Parenthood, a group that provides reproductive health services, including abortions, Siri was able to locate a nearby clinic. Similarly, when asked where you could buy a condom, Siri recommended nearby drugstores. The virtual assistant was unable to decipher a request for the "morning-after pill." The Siri abortion questions started to become a point of online conversation this week, with bloggers raising the point that Siri was unable to locate abortion clinics. "If abortion information is plentifully available on the interwebs, and Siri is pulling those types of requests from the Web, why does Siri not have an answer about birth control or abortion?" one blogger wrote on a site called The Abortioneers. On a blog called Raw Story, Megan Carpentier wrote: "In New York City, Siri doesn't know what Plan B is and, asked for emergency contraception, offers up a Google results page of definitions." Siri pulls from other Internet services to answer questions from iPhone owners. For small business listings, such as abortion clinics, the voice-controlled assistant searches Yelp. It looks to Google for information that would be contained in standard Web searches.
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my friend just got an iphone, we were trying to find out if lady gaga has a penis, she asked Siri, I used the browser function on my google phone....Siri was clueless, my phone found it before Siri even understood the question. We then moved to definitions....pestilence was the word in question....Siri never figured out what was being asked & my browser answered my question in seconds.....I would think a phone book or computer would be much more helpful than Siri when searching abortion clinics.....guess thats how they wound up pregnant to begin with....no common sense.
January 17, 2012 at 9:37 p.m.I guess one would have to first know what an "iphone" is. I have "my phone", my sons have "their phones", and of course my wife has "her phone".
It's scary that this is even a topic-
No disrespect intended towards Jpreyss. Solely my observation (probably narrow visioned).
I have read or heard about this from other sources - this must be important to a lot of people. I am out of the loop.
To be honest I don't need a phone to tell me anything.
Beyond my old fart ranting, it seem one's private health care provider would be the only good source.
January 3, 2012 at 4:12 p.m.Actually it's an non-issue because I have a free app on my iPhone called Vlingo..For kicks,I asked the app "find abortion clinic" the response was:
Coastal Birth Control in Corpus Christi,true it wasn't a voice response but the phone #,web site,and street address was in print...Google has the same option...ACLU doesn't have a case.
December 14, 2011 at 3:53 p.m.How about, the ACLU didn't create this program. If they don't like it, don't use it! if they want software that tells people where abortion clinics are, then they should invest their money and create one. Does anyone else get sick and tired of small groups of loud-mouths getting their way all the time?!
December 14, 2011 at 11:36 a.m.Wait!!!! Siri can not find my toilet paper so I can wipe! What do I do now?
December 1, 2011 at 2:46 p.m.Don't see where the ALCU has a dog in this hunt!
December 1, 2011 at 12:56 p.m.It doesn't locate whorehouses in Victoria either... :-(
December 1, 2011 at 11:59 a.m.Splitting hairs I think - somehow I doubt that someone wanting to consider an abortion would ask their Iphone for a recommendation.
Just because we can or it can doesn't mean we have too or it has too.
I think we are losing our way!
December 1, 2011 at 11:33 a.m.