Possible Government Surveillance of the Otter.ai Transcription App

Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/02/possible-government-surveillance-of-the-otter-ai-transcription-app.html

A reporter interviews a Uyghur human-rights advocate, and uses the Otter.ai transcription app.

The next day, I received an odd note from Otter.ai, the automated transcription app that I had used to record the interview. It read: “Hey Phelim, to help us improve your Otter’s experience, what was the purpose of this particular recording with titled ‘Mustafa Aksu’ created at ‘2021-11-08 11:02:41’?”

Customer service or Chinese surveillance? Turns out it’s hard to tell.