Breaking News

Microsoft Works on New Windows logo and App Icons US, China Have Reached a Deal NHTSA to Examine Tesla Crash Possibly Caused by Autopilot AT&T Left FCC's Internet Speed Measuring Program After Poor Results Chinese Zhaoxin Says it Will Ship 7nm Processors by 2021

logo

  • Share Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • Home
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map

Search form

Google to Stop Assistant Speech Data Transcription in EU

Google to Stop Assistant Speech Data Transcription in EU

Enterprise & IT Aug 1,2019 0

Google has agreed to stop making transcripts of speech data picked up by its Google Assistant system in the European Union for at least the next three months, a German data-protection authority said Thursday.

The office of Johannes Caspar, who as Hamburg's commissioner for data protection acts as Germany's lead regulator of Google on privacy issues, said his authority received the assurance after opening proceedings against Google.

Based on recordings from whistleblowers, the media recently reported that Google's Home Speech Assistant was used to evaluate acoustic recordings by employees in order to optimize the speech recognition process. During these evaluations, employees of Google or of contracted companies listen to the voice recordings and transcribe them in order to analyze whether the recorded acoustic information wascorrectly processed by the AI system behind it.

As the whistleblowers'report has shown, the employees commissioned by Google were able to gather personal information -some of it sensitive -within the private and intimate sphere of the persons concerned from the recorded conversations. In addition, a not inconsiderable portion of the recordings were done due to incorrect activation. Against this background, the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HmbBfDI) initiated an administrative procedure to prohibit Google from carrying out corresponding evaluations by employees or third parties for the period of three months.

Google said to the HmbBfDI in the course of these administrative proceedings that transcriptions of voice recordings will no longer be carried out at present and for at least three months from 1 August 2019. This covers all of the EU. In this respect, the HmbBfDI invided the competent authorities for other providers of speech assistance systems, such as Apple or Amazon, to also swiftly review the implementation of appropriate measures.

Caspar said there are "currently significant doubts" as to whether the use of Google Assistant complies with EU data-protection law. His office said that, while authorities in Ireland — where Google's European operation is headquartered — take the lead on such matters, EU data protection law allows authorities in other member countries to take action for a maximum of three months if there is an "urgent need to act" to protect people's rights and freedoms.

Apple said on Thursday it was also suspending its global internal program for “grading” a portion of user Siri commands after some consumers raised concerns about the program.

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant employs people that listen to less than 1% of Siri commands in order to improve the voice-based digital assistant.

“We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy,” Apple said in a statement. “While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading.”

Tags: Google assistantprivacySiri
Previous Post
Android Users in Europe to Choose Default Search Engine
Next Post
VW's Electrify America And Stable to Deploy Robotic Fast-Charging Facility for Self-Driving Electric Vehicles

Related Posts

  • Google Brings Real-time Translation to Your Phone

  • Researchers Discover Flaws in Smartwatches For Kids

  • Apple Says iPhone 11’s U1 Chip Has to Constantly Perform Geolocation Checks

  • Instagram to Require More Personal Information About You

  • Mozilla Removes Avast Extensions From Their Add-on Store on Spyware Issues

  • Chinese Law Requires Facial Scans for Owners of New Mobile Phones

  • Smartwatch Exposes Data From Children

  • Google Assistant Ambient mode Coming to More Smartphones

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

More information about text formats

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

BBCode

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • You may use these tags: [abbr], [acronym], [b], [center], [code], [color], [define], [font], [h1], [h2], [h3], [h4], [h5], [h6], [hr], [i], [img], [justify], [left], [list], [node], [php], [quote], [right], [s], [size], [sub], [sup], [u], [url], [wikipedia], [youtube], [align], [link], [ol], [ul]
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

Latest News

Microsoft Works on New Windows logo and App Icons
Enterprise & IT

Microsoft Works on New Windows logo and App Icons

US, China Have Reached a Deal
Enterprise & IT

US, China Have Reached a Deal

NHTSA to Examine Tesla Crash Possibly Caused by Autopilot
Enterprise & IT

NHTSA to Examine Tesla Crash Possibly Caused by Autopilot

AT&T Left FCC's Internet Speed Measuring Program After Poor Results
Enterprise & IT

AT&T Left FCC's Internet Speed Measuring Program After Poor Results

Chinese Zhaoxin Says it Will Ship 7nm Processors by 2021
PC components

Chinese Zhaoxin Says it Will Ship 7nm Processors by 2021

Popular Reviews

Zidoo Z9S 4K Media Player review

Zidoo Z9S 4K Media Player review

CeBIT 2005

CeBIT 2005

Club3D HD3850

Club3D HD3850

CeBIT 2006

CeBIT 2006

LiteOn iHBS112 review

LiteOn iHBS112 review

Crucial P1 NVMe 1TB SSD review

Crucial P1 NVMe 1TB SSD review

Hitachi DZ-MV100A DVD Camcorder

Hitachi DZ-MV100A DVD Camcorder

Toshiba Exceria M303 64GB and M501 Exceria Pro 64GB MicroSDXC review

Toshiba Exceria M303 64GB and M501 Exceria Pro 64GB MicroSDXC review

  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Promotional Opportunities @ CdrInfo.com
  • Advertise on out site
  • Submit your News to our site
  • RSS Feed