Spinvox triggers privacy fears
Spinvox triggers privacy fears
23 July 2009
Automated voice to text message service 'transcribed' by Philippine call centres
Spinvox has emerged into a hail of questions regarding privacy this morning as the supposed, automated, service of converting mobile voice messages into texts (a service that has recently been extended to Apple's iPhone) was revealed to be a sham as, according to the BBC, the majority of those conversions are actually completed by a human hand sitting in a call centre in either the Philippines or South Africa.
More importantly, many of those messages are allegedly read by a staff member sitting outside of Europe and its data protection laws. Extra cause for concern was triggered as Spinvox's entry on the UK Data Protection Register states that it does not transfer anything outside the European Economic Area.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) told the BBC that it has contacted Spinvox "...to ensure that its entry on the data protection register is both accurate and complete, especially with regards to the transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area. It may be helpful if the company is clearer about the likelihood that people will be used to translate messages. This is particularly important if customers are using the service for transmitting sensitive or secure information."
It is unknown, at this time, if the Voxlinks service is similarly affected.
Click to read the BBC story
