In March, Microsoft Teams changed its data collection settings to automatically collect face and voice data from call users, in a new feature called voice and face enrolment.
Some have been caught off guard like the New South Wales Education department whose students’ data was collected using the conference call app. Integrating two biometric modalities which “profile” call participants, Microsoft announced their plans to identify when users are speaking on calls to enhance the user experience. Data from voice recognition should support enhanced audio quality, fed into AI systems to improve accurate transcriptions of calls. The integration of biometric technology into TEAMs is not designed to share users’ personal data or for any other purpose but to enhance the experience of their system, however, the Guardian revealed that the department was not aware of the monitoring feature.
TEAMs is a common communication platform that schools use regularly to teach curriculums. The NSW education department website said the platform is “a hub for teachers and students to engage, create, interact, and collaborate”. Any face or voice recognition profiles were quickly removed and accesses to the feature were disabled across their network to protect their students’ privacy. Following a pattern after recent high-profile data breaches, The education department did not comment on the amount of biometric data seized from students and staff without consent. The response was quick within 24 hours to manage the situation, but parents of the students were particularly concerned about the data breach.
