Microsoft contractors reportedly listened to Xbox owners too. Earlier this month, we learned that contractors heard audio snippets from Skype calls and Cortana interactions. Now, Vice reports that Microsoft contractors also listened to audio picked up by Xbox consoles. The device was only supposed to capture audio after voice commands, like “Xbox” or “Hey Cortana,” but contractors claim recordings were sometimes triggered accidentally.
This latest report follows an earlier Motherboard report about Microsoft hiring contractors to listen to Skype recordings. It sounds like a similar team was also recruited to review Xbox recordings in order to train the software that powers the voice control features. One contractor did say that “most of the voices they heard were of children.” Which is creepy.
Still, it’s glaringly obvious now that adding voice control to various devices has typically involved humans listening to our recordings. The technology that powers voice control and voice assistants simply requires human review in order to improve. It’s also very clear that the companies building this technology have done a terrible job communicating this human involvement to users.
Like Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google — which have all been charged with listening to voice assistant queries — Microsoft listened in on audio in an attempt to improve products and services. In a statement (which can be read below), a Microsoft spokesperson told Engadget, “We’ve long been clear that we collect voice data to improve voice-enabled services and that this data is sometimes reviewed by vendors.”
After recent news coverage and public outcry, Apple, Facebook and Google temporarily halted those practices. Amazon will let users opt out of having Alexa conversations reviewed by humans. Microsoft previously said it would continue listening to users but amended its privacy policies. It’s unclear if that will change now that we know contractors have listened to Xbox audio too.
The full statement from Microsoft is below:
“We’ve long been clear that we collect voice data to improve voice-enabled services and that this data is sometimes reviewed by vendors. We’ve recently updated our privacy statement to add greater clarity that people sometimes review this data as part of the product improvement process. We always get customer permission before collecting voice data, we take steps to de-identify voice snippets being reviewed to protect people’s privacy, and we require that handling of this data be held to the highest privacy standards in the law. At the same time, we’re actively working on additional steps we can take to give customers more transparency and more control over how their data is used to improve products.” – a Microsoft spokesperson
