I always feel like, somebody’s watching’ me!

…and I have no privacy!

Who knew that song would come back as the anthem for the Artificial Intelligence era? Starting March 17, Information Technology Services enabled Live Transcription within Microsoft Teams. Live Transcription provides the dialogue by each speaker, aiding participants in noisy environments or those who prefer visual support. Don’t get me wrong, from an accessibility standard, on the surface this is a very good thing. However, how do services that allow meetings to be transcribed in real time really work? The feature captures spoken dialogue and converts it into text, which can be stored and accessed later. Here’s a breakdown of how it functions:

How Microsoft Teams Transcription Works

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Enabling Transcription

• Who can start transcription? Fortunately, this morning (during a Teams meeting) I discovered that only the meeting organizer or someone with the right permissions (such as an IT administrator) can enable transcription.
• How is it activated? During a Teams meeting, transcription can be started by selecting More actions (three dots) > Start transcription.
• Who gets notified? All meeting participants receive a notification that transcription has begun.

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How the Transcription Process Works

• Real-time speech-to-text conversion: As participants speak, Teams uses Microsoft Speech Recognition AI to transcribe the conversation.
• Speaker attribution: Each line of the transcription includes the name of the speaker.
• Multiple languages: The feature supports various languages, but accuracy depends on accents, background noise, and clarity.

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Storage and Access to Transcriptions

• Where is it saved? The transcript is stored in Microsoft OneDrive (for regular meetings) or SharePoint (for channel meetings).
• Who can access it? Only the meeting organizer and participants can access the transcript unless permissions are changed.
• Editing & downloading: Organizers can edit or delete the transcript after the meeting. It can be downloaded as a .vtt or .docx file for record-keeping.

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Automatic Features & Limitations

• Live captions vs. Transcription: Live captions provide real-time subtitles but do not store the text. Transcription saves the full meeting text for later reference.
• AI Summaries (with CoPilot): If using Microsoft 365 CoPilot, AI can summarize meeting points and actions.
• Data Privacy & Security: Transcriptions are encrypted and stored according to an organization’s Microsoft 365 security policies. IT admins can enable or disable transcription for compliance reasons.

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Key Privacy Concerns for Employees

• Always-on transcription: Some employers keep transcription running by default, raising privacy concerns. This feature does not appear to be enabled at this time; however, the Microsoft 365 CoPilot feature IS activated on the College account. To work, his kind of AI feature is “always listening” and scanning all available information.
• Employers can access transcriptions unless strict permissions are applied.
• Use in performance reviews or disputes: Recorded transcriptions could be referenced in disciplinary actions.

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Why does this matter?

Every time we log into a college device, we acknowledge that the College collects and monitors a variety of data regarding the usage, activity and storage
associated with our activities for network maintenance and security to monitor compliance with this Policy or as otherwise permitted or required by law. While access to such data is intended to be restricted to authorized College system administrators, the use of AI in these circumstances has not been thoroughly tested or restricted.

Microsoft 365 CoPilot Knows a Little Too Much

Microsoft’s AI assistant, CoPilot, can pull information from across our emails, OneDrive documents, and meeting transcripts to generate summaries and reports. This creates major privacy concerns for members, including:

• Your private notes or messages could be surfaced in school-wide reports for administration.
• AI misinterpretations could make it look like you said or meant something you didn’t.
• Sensitive discussions, such as HR issues, union matters, and member grievances, may be flagged and shared with management.

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What can you do to protect Yourself as an Employee?

✔ Pay attention to whether the meeting you are in is being recorded and transcribed; keep a personal copy for your records.
✔ Be knowledgeable about laws and policies on storage and data access.
✔ Because all data collected by the college is subject to FIPPA, avoid discussing sensitive matters or using full names in transcribed meetings.
✔ Use alternative communication (e.g., phone calls, personal emails, encrypted chat) for private discussions.

Whenever you need to speak with a union representative, they will provide you with a Zoom link from the Union’s Zoom account. Our members’ data is handled in accordance with our privacy policy. Both Zoom and the Union’s Discord Server use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for audio and video calls, utilizing the “DAVE” protocol. This ensures that only participants can decipher the content, and even Discord itself cannot access it. For the past several years, I’ve been on a campaign to collect our members’ information, including your personal email addresses, so we can safely reach you for important legal and union matters. Email me if you need a link to Discord or to submit your Member Details.

Technology is evolving rapidly, and in many ways, utilizing AI can be beneficial. However, protecting your privacy and our rights as workers must take precedence. Teams transcriptions and AI tools like CoPilot could easily be used against employees or be at cross-purposes with our Union’s responsibility to protect and support your rights.

So remember, next time you feel like somebody’s watching, they just might be!