SpinVox accused of major privacy breach

SpinVox says it uses algorithms to translate spoken content into text

The BBC has sparked controversy with a report claiming that the SpinVox voicemail-to-SMS service actually uses human operatives in third world countries to perform translations, rather than an automated computer system.

SpinVox introduced its service in 2005, offering to convert voicemail messages to email or text messages, which the company said is a more convenient way for users to receive this information.

The firm has always maintained that it uses computers with speech processing algorithms to translate spoken content into text. The company has since changed its focus to market the service to mobile operators as a value-add to their subscribers, rather than directly to consumers.

The service "captures spoken words and feeds them into a Voice Message Conversion System, known as 'D2' (the Brain), and spits them out as text content ", according to the SpinVox web site.

A proviso further down in the text says that the system "also knows what it doesn't know and is able to call on human experts for assistance", implying that some human intervention is necessary if the software has problems working out what is being said.

However, the BBC report claims that the majority of messages are in fact translated by staff operating from call centres in locations such as South Africa and The Philippines.

If true, the report raises serious questions over the legality of SpinVox's service, as there are strict European Union regulations regarding the exporting of personal information to territories outside the European Economic Area.

At the time of writing, SpinVox had not responded to requests from V3. co.uk for clarification of the situation regarding its speech-to-text service.