Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#1

Post by arcticfox » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:27 PM UTC

I occasionally use Otter.ai to transcribe when I'm multitasking. Recently they made an update, which I carefully opted out of, to automatically join every meeting through my Google Calendar and transcribe it. Screenshots prove I had the feature disabled.

The bot proceeded to join two confidential meetings on my behalf and record the whole thing, then email every member an absurd, inaccurate "outline" after.

I am not much of a privacy person but I feel completely abused in this situation. I have opened a support ticket with screenshots but there is no response, and according to Twitter they are essentially not reviewing tickets from free users at the moment.

So just a heads-up to the HN community!

Are there other, more privacy oriented transcription services anyone can recommend?

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#2

Post by that_guy_iain » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

> I am not much of a privacy person but I feel completely abused in this situation. I have opened a support ticket with screenshots but there is no response, and according to Twitter they are essentially not reviewing tickets from free users at the moment.

Important thing here is, you're not a customer.

> Are there other, more privacy oriented transcription services anyone can recommend?

Probably not, since this is probably a bug that can affect any of these applications. And privacy focused apps are a niche and a niche that isn't that much fun to develop. The nature of these apps lean towards people who aren't privacy focused since you would be allowing a third party to listen to calls which is the opposite of privacy. You don't need a more privacy focused app, you just need another app and probably to become a customer so you can get the support you clearly want.

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#3

Post by tlb » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

Tangential, but I often wish I had screenshots to prove I'd opted in, or out, or otherwise done the right thing. It shouldn't be too expensive to record and index the screen whenever I'm doing something important online and keep it for a week.

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#4

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

that_guy_iain wrote: post #2

> I am not much of a privacy person but I feel completely abused in this situation. I have opened a support ticket with screenshots but there is no response, and according to Twitter they are essentially not reviewing tickets from free users at the moment. Important thing here is, you're not a customer. > Are there other, more privacy oriented transcription services anyone can recommend? Probably not, since this is p…

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#5

Post by sp332 » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:47 PM UTC

that_guy_iain wrote: post #2

> I am not much of a privacy person but I feel completely abused in this situation. I have opened a support ticket with screenshots but there is no response, and according to Twitter they are essentially not reviewing tickets from free users at the moment. Important thing here is, you're not a customer. > Are there other, more privacy oriented transcription services anyone can recommend? Probably not, since this is p…

How are they going to upsell people to paid tiers if the free product is malfunctioning?

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#6

Post by failrate » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:47 PM UTC

tlb wrote: post #3

Tangential, but I often wish I had screenshots to prove I'd opted in, or out, or otherwise done the right thing. It shouldn't be too expensive to record and index the screen whenever I'm doing something important online and keep it for a week.

Multiple products exist to take multiple screenshots over a time period including details on which application was in focus. This might be an approach thqt would work for you.

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#7

Post by propogandist » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:50 PM UTC

AI bot covertly joins company meetings to record conversations to monetize freemium users.

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#8

Post by garysahota93 » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

This is why I use Clari Wingman instead.

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#9

Post by that_guy_iain » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #5

that_guy_iain wrote: post #2

> I am not much of a privacy person but I feel completely abused in this situation. I have opened a support ticket with screenshots but there is no response, and according to Twitter they are essentially not reviewing tickets from free users at the moment. Important thing here is, you're not a customer. > Are there other, more privacy oriented transcription services anyone can recommend? Probably not, since this is p…

How are they going to upsell people to paid tiers if the free product is malfunctioning?

Let's be serious, if the bug exists it'll exist on all versions. So they'll fix it. But they'll be responding to customers and not resource drains.

Re: Tell HN: Otter.ai bot recording meetings without consent

#10

Post by that_guy_iain » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

tlb wrote: post #3

Tangential, but I often wish I had screenshots to prove I'd opted in, or out, or otherwise done the right thing. It shouldn't be too expensive to record and index the screen whenever I'm doing something important online and keep it for a week.

Would be a privacy nightmare. But some companies do, using hotjar and other tools.