The news you need to know: August 30 2019

Grab your dose of the daily news as we reveal everything small business owners need to know on Friday, 30 August 2019.

Siri is listening and so is Apple

We all think our phones are secretly listening to us but Apple has finally confirmed it. The global tech giant was forced to issue an apology to consumers when news broke it had been allowing employees to listen to Siri recordings. The program allowed Apple employees to listen in on recordings in order to improve the service of the voice assistant. The company fired 300 contractors working on the project in Cork this week, following a whistle blower leaking the news to The Guardian. The former employee said workers regularly heard private conversations, drug deals and people having sex. Apple says it will no longer have people monitoring the recordings and said in future “users will be able to opt in to help Siri improve by learning from the audio samples of their requests.”

US markets on the rise

The US markets have taken a turn for the better, with gains on Wall Street following comments by the Chinese Commerce Ministry. The Ministry has suggested China won’t be retaliating against recent tariff increases imposed by President Trump, spurring hopes the trade war between the two nation’s may be losing steam. US stocks have risen by 1 per cent in response to the news. Further trade talks between the two nations are scheduled for September. President Trump said in a Fox News radio interview that trade talks were scheduled for Thursday “at a different level”.

Online lender says falling interest rates helping business

Online lender Prospa has announced its results and said falling interest rates are helpng their business with co-founder and CEO Beu Bertoli telling Startup Daily the fintech was continuing to see a shift towards online business lending.

“Our customer numbers have grown 58 per cent on the prior year, and this demand, plus the strong growth in New Zealand, demonstrates we’re providing a much-needed service to small business owners,” Bertoli said.

Draft religious discrimination legislation revealed

After months of consultation, the Attorney General has released a draft of new religious discrimination legislation. The changes suggested could mean businesses and companies may have a more difficult time proving their brand is suffering if an outspoken employee expresses religious beliefs counter to that of the brand’s stance. The new proposal suggests a business would have to show the comments had caused financial damage to the brand.

Speaking at Sydney’s Great Synagogue, the Attorney-General highlighted the case of recently sacked rugby player Israel Folau, who was fired after making homophobic comments in a post on Instagram.

“Someone in Mr Folau’s position might say that the rule under which they were sacked was unreasonable, indirect discrimination. The employer would need to argue that the rule was reasonable. But to do that, they would have to show the commercial damage to their organisation that was suffered by the breach,” the Attorney General said.