Microsoft said that its Skype messaging service calls are now being copied into "safe facilities in a small number of countries", after a new report published by the British newspaper, "The Guardian", on Friday, about the company using the contractor in China to listen to some calls to ensure that the program Its copy is working properly.
The US software giant confirmed to the technology website, The Verge, that China is not currently one of the countries where Skype calls are copied.
Browse thousands of audio recordings
A former contractor who was living in Beijing told the Guardian newspaper: It copied Skype calls with little security due to possible state interference.
The unnamed former contractor told the newspaper that he had reviewed thousands of audio recordings from Skype and Digital Assistant Cortana on his personal laptop from his Beijing home for two years.
According to the Guardian report, the contractors who were part of the review process were able to access the records via a web application in the Chrome online browser in China. There has been little staff scrutiny, and no security measures in place to protect audio recordings from the state or criminal interference.
"Crazy thing"
The contractor told the Guardian newspaper: he heard "all kinds of unusual conversations" while making copies. He added: "After educating myself about cyber security, I find it a little crazy now, that they provided me with a URL, a username, and a password sent via email."
After the Guardian report spread, a Microsoft spokesperson told The Virgo in an email: "If there is questionable behavior or a possible violation by one of our suppliers, we will investigate and take action." He added: The audio excerpts that contractors receive is a 10-second or shorter review, and no one reviewing these excerpts will have access to longer conversations.
"We have always disclosed this to customers and we operate according to the highest privacy standards set out in laws such as the European General Data Protection Regulation," the spokesman added.
It is noteworthy that the talk about the existence of a program to copy Skype conversations first appeared in a report published by Motherboard in August. Although Skype's terms of service indicate that it does voice call analysis, this report was the first to explain the amount of analysis that humans perform. Unlike competitors that explicitly announced that it would end the practice of human review of the voice of digital aid, Microsoft continued this practice, apparently updating its privacy policy to acknowledge that it was doing so.
Microsoft Skype
