Google samlar in det du säger till Google Home, deras smarta högtalare. Ljuden spelas in och Google-anställda skriver sedan ut en del av det som sägs.
För att kunna lyssna av olika språk så använder sig Google av flera underleverantörer, som lyssnar och skriver av det som sagts.
Google employees are systematically listening to audio files recorded by Google Home smart speakers and the Google Assistant smartphone app. Throughout the world – so also in Belgium and the Netherlands – people at Google listen to these audio files to improve Google’s search engine. VRT NWS was able to listen to more than a thousand recordings. Most of these recordings were made consciously, but Google also listens to conversations that should never have been recorded, some of whoch contain sensitive information.
Försvarar sig
Google försvarar sig med att detta arbete görs för att förbättra och utveckla tekniken. I det här aktuella fallet så har ljudfiler lämnats ut till vrtNWS som lyckats att identifiera enskilda användare.
In the aftermath of the Amazon case, we were able to talk to someone who works for a Google subcontractor. He let us take a look at the system that collects audio via Google Assistant. Thousands of employees worldwide use this system to listen to audio excerpts. In Flanders and Holland, around a dozen people listen to Dutch recordings.
vrtNWS skriver vidare att det inte är särskilt svårt att identifiera enskilda använda, lyssna bara på det som sägs.
Knowing that people who work for Google indirectly are listening to such recordings raises questions about privacy. In order to avoid excerpts being automatically linked to a user, they are disconnected from the user’s information. They delete the user name and replace it with an anonymous serial number. But, as shown in one of the videos above, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recover someone’s identity; you simply have to listen carefully to what is being said.
