Google LLC has become embroiled in a new privacy scandal after it was forced to admit today that audio captured by its smart assistant was leaked by a partner in the Netherlands to a news outlet.

About 1,000 conversations captured by Google Assistant, which is used in Google Home smart speakers, Android devices and Chromebooks, were leaked to Belgian news outlet VRT NWS. The recordings include audio of domestic violence, confidential business calls, personally identifiable information and, in some cases, requests to play porn.

Some 153 of the audio recordings should not have been recorded, since the users did not say “OK Google” to trigger the event. “This means that a lot of conversations are recorded unintentionally: bedroom conversations, conversations between parents and their children, but also blazing rows and professional phone calls containing lots of private information,” the report noted.

Worse still, there was enough personal information in the recordings that VRT NWS was able to find some of the people in the recordings and confront them with the audio.

The data was obtained from a Dutch subcontractor who was hired by Google as a “language reviewer” to transcribe audio collected by Google Assistant to help the company better understand accents used in the language.

The motivation for leaking the data is not clear, but VRT NWS’ reason for publishing the report was to expose the fact that not only is Google recording the conversations but Google employees and subcontractors have access to the records.

Google confirmed the report, saying that its Security and Privacy Response teams have been activated on this issue and are investigating. “We are conducting a full review of our safeguards in this space to prevent misconduct like this from happening again,” David Monsees, product manager for search, wrote in a blog post.

As spin goes, the confirmation of the VRT NWS report was a short one, specifically one paragraph in a far longer blog post that seeks to justify why Google records the audio, explains why it hires language experts to analyze it and then attempts to justify existing safeguards, despite their having failed here.

“We apply a wide range of safeguards to protect user privacy throughout the entire review process,” Monsees said. “Language experts only review around 0.2% of all audio snippets. Audio snippets are not associated with user accounts as part of the review process, and reviewers are directed not to transcribe background conversations or other noises, and only to transcribe snippets that are directed to Google.”

Photo: Marco Verch/Flickr