So far, most of the comments here are a good example of both why this happened and why it will happen again.
When people complained that putting microphones in your home 24/7 was creepy, the response was "that's nonsense, Siri is not sending anything unless you specifically ask for it". When it turned out that it does send things you didn't intend, the response was "well, it's not like anyone is listening anyway". Now that we know someone is listening, the response is "it's no big deal, because they don't care and ultimately is good for you".
Just because most people don't understand the implications of what they agree to, it doesn't mean they don't care. And the levity with which the tech community disregards other people's privacy concerns seems to me one of the reasons why everything everywhere is spying on us nowadays.
When people complained that putting microphones in your home 24/7 was creepy, the response was "that's nonsense, Siri is not sending anything unless you specifically ask for it". When it turned out that it does send things you didn't intend, the response was "well, it's not like anyone is listening anyway". Now that we know someone is listening, the response is "it's no big deal, because they don't care and ultimately is good for you".
Just because most people don't understand the implications of what they agree to, it doesn't mean they don't care. And the levity with which the tech community disregards other people's privacy concerns seems to me one of the reasons why everything everywhere is spying on us nowadays.
We really need mandatory ethics courses in CS.