VRT News probe: Google stops listening in to recordings
Tech giant Google has halted the practice of listening in to recordings made with its speech assistant in Europe. The decision comes after VRT News showed how Google staff were listening to recordings made with the Google Assistant App.
Google says it’s doing this to improve speech recognition software. The German privacy watchdog in the state of Hamburg recently launched an investigation into Google’s practices. It believes speech recognition systems used by Google, Apple and Amazon pose a threat to families’ privacy. It says collecting personal information from users is “disturbing”.
The German regular initiated a procedure intended to stop Google from listening to recordings.
Google has indicated it will now stop listening to recordings across Europe for 3 months.