PARIS, Oct 6 (Reuters) - French prosecutors said on

Monday they are investigating tech giant Apple's ( AAPL ) voice

assistant Siri after receiving a complaint from a tech

researcher accusing the company of illicit data collection.

The probe, which was first reported by the news website

Politico, has been entrusted to a police force specialised in

cybercrime, the prosecutors' office in Paris said without

providing further details.

Tech researcher Thomas Le Bonniec told Reuters that he was

the source of the complaint, which was filed by French human

rights organisation, the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme (LDH).

LDH had previously said the complaint accused Apple ( AAPL ) of

collecting, recording and analysing Siri conversations without

users' consent. It did not respond to a request for comment on

Monday.

"The opening of a criminal investigation ... sends a clear

message: fundamental rights matter, and there are organisations

and people determined to uphold them," Le Bonniec said.

Apple ( AAPL ) told Reuters on Monday that it had tightened Siri

privacy controls in 2019 and again this year. It pointed to a

January post on its website in which it said conversations with

Siri were never shared with marketers or sold to advertisers.