John PescatoreGartner recently published a First Take about Google’s preview of Google Voice, which is basically a Google-provided phone number that will consolidate all of a user’s phone and text messaging into a single message mailbox. It will also provide voice to text transcription of voice mails and a bunch of other services. Google is currently claiming that fees for international long distance calls made through this service will enable it to be a free service without ads, but this is Google – you know ads will work there way in first, then later an enterprise for fee version will pop up.
This is just another “Consumerization of IT” issue, with all the attendant risks but I think it has one unique security twist: the transcription of voice mail. This worries me for a number of reasons:
- People tend to say things on voice that they would not type in an email or text message. You can always backspace on email or text as you look at it, doesn’t work that way with voice.
- Voice to text transcription has come a long way but (as Google admits) still has huge accuracy problems, especially when the voice comes from noisy environments (like cellphones outside or in cars) or when the user is stressed. There will be all kinds of humorous examples of this (remember Doonesbury on the Apple Newton?) but there will also be scary examples of sensitive and embarrassing information leaking.
- This is duplicating a lot of corporate unified communications technology being sold by Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft and others – there will be lots of redundant and hidden leakage paths as things are forwarded to each other.
The usual trajectory will be followed here: first we try to say no, then we try to limit/bound the use, then we try to provide full secure support. Better to start at step 2.
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1 Who Are You? Who, Who, Who - Really? March 23, 2009 at 8:30 am
[...] Almost 16 years ago “The New Yorker” published the now iconic “On The Internet, No One Knows You’re a Dog” cartoon, which fueled security presentations for years and years. The only cartoon I can remember that had as much technology impact was the Doonesbury Apple Newton twerk that I referenced previously. [...]
2 Transcription errors and security could plague Google Voice | Compliantly June 5, 2009 at 6:05 pm
[...] very real, and something that users of the recently announced Google Voice service should consider, warns Gartner analyst John Pescatore. Voice-to-text transcription is a cool feature, but Google Voice subscribers would do well to [...]
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