Tag: privacy

Tech giants sued for using voice samples to train artificial intelligence without consent. Google is facing a new lawsuit under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), in which the company is accused of training voice AI models using biometric voice samples from journalists, investigative podcasters, and audiobook narrators.

The lawsuit was filed by seven plaintiffs who allege that Google created its core models based on thousands of hours of recorded speech to extract biometric voice samples. These models were used to power products such as Gemini Live, NotebookLM Audio Overviews, YouTube automatic dubbing, Google Cloud Text-to-Speech, and Google Assistant.

The plaintiffs include award-winning radio journalists Carol Marin and Philip Rogers, investigative podcasters Yohance Lacour, Alison Flowers and Robin Amer, and audiobook narrators Lindsey Dorcus and Victoria Nassif.

Separate but related class action lawsuits filed by the same group of defendants also target Amazon, Apple Inc., Meta Platforms, Microsoft, NVIDIA, ElevenLabs, Adobe, and Samsung Electronics.

According to the allegations, these companies built commercial AI-based voice systems using voice samples collected from the internet and other sources without obtaining written consent, providing notice, or publishing biometric retention policies required by BIPA.

The BIPA deems biometric identifiers to be “biologically unique to an individual,” meaning that once they are disclosed or misused, they cannot be easily replaced or invalidated by an individual.



https://www.biometricupdate.com/202605/tech-giants-sued-under-bipa-over-voiceprints-used-to-train-ai


Deepfake attacks are AI-based frauds that use a short-form voice sample generated from a source (e.g., social media) to gain unauthorized access to accounts, create additional ads, etc.

Biometric data leak. Unlike a password, a voice cannot be changed. If a voice template leaks from the database, it is irretrievably stolen, creating a long-term risk to the user’s identity. The report “Cyber ​​Threats: What Poles Are Afraid of,” compiled by the Office for Personal Data Protection, among others, shows that one-third of Poles fear information leaks (in general). The most frequently asked questions include where and how the data will be stored, whether it will be adequately secured, and whether it will not be used unlawfully.

Loss of privacy and image. Voice can reveal more than just identity – speech analysis can reveal health, mental characteristics, and emotions, which can also be used against the user.

What is the biggest problem for you?



You can read more about privacy in voice biometrics on our blog
https://biometriq.pl/en/privacy-in-voice-biometrics/

At the end of the year, Radio Lublin hosted an interesting program on network security. It covered, among others, issues related to digital identity, privacy and its protection, as well as the phenomenon of the rapidly growing amount of data on the Internet and the impact of this phenomenon on the development of tools, AI and the life of society. The conversation took place as part of the series “XX/XXI – a garden with forking paths”, and the participant of this inspiring conversation was Andrzej Tymecki, Managing Director of BiometrIQ. Below we share some selected statements that constitute a short summary of this meeting.

? The amount of data is growing incredibly fast. To illustrate the point, if we recorded the data produced in the world in one day onto DVDs and arranged them one by one, they would cover 106,000 km, which means their length would be enough to circle the Earth more than twice.

? The concept of privacy is constantly evolving as technology advances and new opportunities emerge. It is no longer just traditional personal data such as name, PESEL or address, but also photos and biometric features such as voice, finger touch, iris. This makes protecting privacy more and more difficult.

?Nowadays, it is very easy to commit identity theft due to the advancement of technology and the development of AI. Protection against loss of privacy and identity theft forces caution when posting any content online.

?The right to be forgotten, introduced into the GDPR Act in 2014, allows us to delete our data from the database.

?Using advanced methods to protect recordings, e.g. using watermarks. may not be enough to protect against identity theft. What is needed is the good will of people on the other side (platform managers) who will verify the recordings in terms of their authenticity.

?Procedures are a very important issue in ensuring safety. Procedures cannot be replaced by technology. Technology is supposed to support and facilitate their implementation.


? Data centers play a key role in terms of security, of which there are as many as 144 in Poland. The United States is undoubtedly a power in this respect, with approximately 5,300 facilities.

you can read about the program itself, as well as the entire series here