So it shouldn’t be news to many people that the voice searches you do on your Android devices as well as Android Wear are transmitted to Google for them to do their magic, and translate your voice to on-screen words to complete your request. What my come as news to some, as it did to me, is that Google don’t use and discard the searches, they’re stored in your account history.
First things first, don’t panic!
The essential information you need to know before going any further is that only you have access to the data, the voice recordings are not available to anyone else. The second essential piece of information is that if you wish you can delete your voice searches.
So lets take a quick look at why Google would store these searches and alleviate the fears that some “security conscious” users may have.
Why store this stuff? It’s simple really. Google stores your voice searches and the original audio recordings so that it can learn how to better understand what you say and deliver more targeted, useful search results. Withouy the ability to store your voice search history, Google’s ability to give you good answers would be much less.
That’s about it really, there’s no other reason for Google to keep this stuff and that’s why they make it so easy for users to delete it if they feel that Google shouldn’t retain their voice searches.
Of course, if you delete your previous voice searches and the audio recordings, you can expect that Google may lose some of the uncanny ability to understand exactly what you’re after each and every single time.
The bottom line is there is no reason to panic, this information can only be seen by you (and by Google voice recognition systems), and there’s a good reason for it to be there. Panic over!
Are you concerned by the data that Google store about you?
Basic principle is that a company should only use personal data for the purpose for which it is requested. A voice search does not require the storage of the voice, and therefore it should be deleted. Someone might separately agree for google to use the data to train the recognition, but that should only take a fraction of a day at most, after which it should be deleted. This becomes more of a threat with Android Home, who knows what audio they will record and keep. As such, they shouldn’t be keeping voice data for longer than necessary, and a… Read more »
Google ask at the start of using Voice Search if you are okay with them storing the data. If you don’t want them too, don’t agree to it! Personally myself, I want them to keep it forever as long as they keep using it as they are now to make there products better and the data they give me back better! And to suggest this is a privacy issue is “Tinhat” thinking and all you would expect from the EU! If people took a bit of personal responsibility and actually read what they were agreeing too, everyone would be better… Read more »
Sounds like someone needs to pay more attention to what they sign up for! Google couldn’t be more clear on the fact that they are going to store voice searches when you sign up for the feature!
No one ever reads those things, except privacy wingnuts 😉