Spinvox has declined to comment on how many messages are "read" in this way.
"Speech algorithms do not learn without human intervention and all speech systems require humans for learning - Spinvox does this in real-time," the firm said in a statement.
"The actual proportion of messages automatically converted is highly confidential and sensitive data," it added.
The Spinvox website claims its technology "captures spoken words and feeds them into a Voice Message Conversion System, known as 'D2' (the Brain)".
The company said that, when necessary, parts of messages can be sent to a "conversion expert".
The part sent is anonymised so that there is no way of tracking back a particular number or person. It will be just one of millions of messages going through the automated system on a particular day, the company said.
A Facebook group created by staff at an Egyptian call centre, which used to work for Spinvox, includes a picture of one transcribed message containing what appears to be sensitive commercial information.
It also includes an audio recording of one call, and pictures of staff at the call centre.
Spinvox said that the pictures relate to a training session, and that the call centre did not meet its stringent standards and never handled live calls.
However, the BBC said Mohammed Mustafa, who worked at the centre and insists that he and his colleagues did handle live messages, and that Spinvox computers only played a small part in transcribing them.
"The machine doesn't understand anything," he explained. "You have to start typing when you hear the message."
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) told the BBC that it has contacted Spinvox "to ensure that its entry on the data protection register is both accurate and complete, especially with regards to the transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area".
In a statement, the ICO explained there was nothing to prevent Spinvox from using people rather than machines to translate messages.
However, it said that "it may be helpful if the company is clearer about the likelihood that people will be used to translate messages".
"This is particularly important if customers are using the service for transmitting sensitive or secure information," it added.
2010-06-21
Spinvox phone message translation service facing privacy questions - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
