Google halts Assistant speech data transcription in EU

BERLIN — Google has given reassurances that it won’t make transcripts of speech data picked up by its Google Assistant system in the European Union for at least the next three months, a German data-protection authority said Thursday. Caspar’s office said in a statement that Google told the Hamburg authority that transcripts of speech recordings are already suspended and won’t take place for at least three months from Thursday. The company confirmed the move and said that “shortly after we learned about the leaking of confidential Dutch audio data, we paused language reviews of the Assistant to investigate.” Google’s move is voluntary as the authority is still considering the matter and Caspar hasn’t yet ordered action. His office said that, while authorities in Ireland — where Google’s European operation is headquartered — take the lead on such matters, EU data protection law allows authorities in other member countries to take action for a maximum of three months if there is an “urgent need to act” to protect people’s rights and freedoms.