Well, over the past few years, we’ve been hearing news about how tech companies use our data or listen to us. Now, the news about Microsoft admitting to listening to Skype and Cortana recordings has just surfaced. Microsoft has been allowing human contractors listen to your Skype translations and Cortana voice recordings.
Do you know what this means? It’s not just artificial intelligence, but humans on the end listening to you. But just recently, Apple and Google stopped the voice listening. On the other hand, Microsoft has simply updated its privacy policy that indeed human contractors listen to Skype and Cortana recordings.
“Our processing of personal data for these purposes includes both automated and manual (human) methods of processing. Our automated methods often are related to and supported by our manual methods,” says Microsoft’s policy. A note here is that Microsoft does this for Skype translation only and not for Skype calls. But with Cortana, all your requests, conversations, exchanges, etc. are listened and analyzed.
Here’s another statement in the policy: “When you talk to Cortana or other apps that use Microsoft speech services, Microsoft stores a copy of your audio recordings (i.e., voice data) […] This may include transcription of audio recordings by Microsoft employees and vendors, subject to procedures designed to prioritize users’ privacy, including taking steps to de-identify data, requiring non-disclosure agreements with vendors and their employees, and requiring that vendors meet the high privacy standards set out in European law and elsewhere.”