Well-liked AI transcription software Otter has been hit by a federal lawsuit which alleges it “recorded, accessed, learn, realized, and utilized” the contents of individuals’s conversations with out getting the required consent first. It additionally claims Otter used these conversations to coach its machine studying expertise.
The grievance, filed in US District Courtroom for the Northern District of California, focuses on one in every of Otter’s merchandise, Otter Notetaker, which produces real-time transcriptions of Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Groups conferences.
The go well with says that Otter recorded not solely account holders who use Otter Notetaker however assembly individuals who don’t subscribe to Otter’s companies. It argues that as Otter didn’t disclose when it was energetic and recording conferences, when the opposite members had not given consent, it’s in violation of each federal and California privateness legal guidelines. These embrace the Digital Communications Privateness Act of 1986 and the California Invasion of Privateness Act. It’s searching for class-action standing.
The plaintiff, Justin Brewer, participated in a Zoom assembly in February 2025, the place Otter Notetaker was used to transcribe a gathering he attended. As he didn’t know he was being recorded or give his consent to the transcription, the grievance says this allowed Otter to “wiretap his communications.”
Although Otter’s privateness coverage clearly states that it “de-identified” its audio recordings, which means the recordings have been altered to take away the figuring out knowledge, it pointed to analysis on the ineffectiveness of those strategies. The grievance additionally highlights that one in every of Otter’s opponents, Learn.ai, permits any participant, together with those that don’t use Learn.ai, to cease recording throughout a gathering.
This is not the primary time privateness points have been raised about Otter’s companies. In 2024, the College of Massachusetts banned Otter.ai, as its IT division stated it violated the state’s all‑celebration consent legislation. NPR, which coated the lawsuit, famous that a Politico journalist who interviewed a Uighur human rights activist raised considerations in 2024 that the Chinese language authorities might try to entry the transcriptions of his conversations with political dissidents.
PCMag has reached out to Otter for remark.
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