Microsoft today updated its privacy policies to disclose that employees and contractors are listening to audio from some Skype calls and conversations with Cortana recordings.
unlike Apple and Google, each of which halted listening to some of these recordings after the revelations, Microsoft appears to be merely updating its privacy policy to admit that yes, in fact, humans do review some of these recordings. One caveat here: Microsoft is only doing this for Skype’s translation feature, not Skype calls. Microsoft is, however, analyzing voice snippets from Cortana requests and exchanges, presumably across all platforms including PC, where one might be more readily searching the web with more sensitive requests.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard the company learned “based on questions raised recently, that we could do a better job specifying that humans sometimes review this content.”
Motherboard reported that privacy and FAQ pages for both Cortana and Skype Translator now include this paragraph about how data is collected, used and protected: “This may include transcription of audio recordings by Microsoft employees and vendors, subject to procedures designed to protect 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.”
Growing public awareness of privacy issues has put a microscope on how tech giants handle audio recordings made by users. Microsoft is the latest company caught up in the situation, joining fellow tech giants Amazon, Google, Apple and most recently Facebook.
Microsoft allows users to delete their audio recordings through an online tool. However, a Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard that for now the company will continue to let humans listen in.
