Google has announced the introduction of its ‘Live Transcribe’ app for Android which allows people who are deaf or hard of hearing to see a live, near real-time written display of conversations on their phone.

Live Transcribe

The Google Live Transcribe app offers deaf and hard of hearing a new portable, accessibility tool that offers a convenient and innovative new way to join in conversations. With the Live Transcribe app turned on, the Android phone microphone feeds conversations into the app which can display accurate, near real-time captions on the phone screen in 70 different languages and dialects.  It also enables two-way conversation via a type-back keyboard for users who can’t or don’t want to speak.  The app can connect with external microphones to improve transcription accuracy.

Another feature of the app is a blue circle in the corner of the screen that pulses to show the user the ambient noise level of wherever they are, thus showing the user if they need to move the phone / external microphone closer to a person for the app to ‘hear’ what they’re saying.

Live transcribe also vibrates the phone if someone speaks after a period of silence to prompt the user to look at the screen again.

Where, When & How Can You Get Live Transcribe?

The Live Transcribe app is available preinstalled on Pixel 3 phones and can be operated by switching it on in the Accessibility Settings.  The app is also available via the Google Play Store for other phones but is being released as a limited beta.  You can, however, sign up to be notified when more downloads of Live Transcribe are available in the Google Play Store by clicking on this link and scrolling to the bottom of the page: https://www.android.com/accessibility/live-transcribe/ .

Sound Amplifier App Too

Another Android phone accessibility app launch that has also been announced by Google is that of ‘Sound Amplifier’.  As the name suggests, this app can be used with headphones plugged into the phone to boost the volume (e.g. of the voice of someone who’s talking to you) especially in situations where there’s a lot of background noise. Sound Amplifier filters, augments and amplifies sounds in any environment that you find yourself in, and it works by increasing quiet sounds, while not over-boosting loud sounds.

The app can be customised via sound enhancement settings, and noise reduction can be applied to minimise distracting background noise with simple sliders and toggles.

Where, When & How Can You Get Sound Amplifier?

Sound Amplifier is available now, supports Android 9 Pie (or later) phones, is pre-installed on Pixel 3 phones, and is available on the Play Store.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

These apps could prove to be very convenient and useful in business, home and other settings for anyone who is deaf or is hard of hearing.  These apps demonstrate how technology can be used to solve old and difficult problems in new, and easy-to-use ways, and could provide an important step forward in accessibility for an outwardly invisible problem that millions of people suffer from.  For example, The World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2055, there will be 900 million people with hearing loss.

The Sound Amplifier app also provides Google with a way to compete with similar offerings from Apple.  For example, Apple offers a similar feature that works with AirPods, and iPhones can also work with some hearing aids.

A man was given a public order fine after being stopped by police because he covered his face during a trial of facial recognition cameras in Romford, London.

What Facial Recognition Trial?

A deliberately “overt” trial of live facial recognition technology by the Metropolitan Police took place in the centre of Romford, London, on Thursday 31^st January.  This was supposed to be the first day of a two-day trial of the technology, but the second day was cancelled due to concerns that the forecast snow would only bring a low level of foot-fall in the area.

Live facial recognition trials of this kind use vehicle-mounted cameras linked to a police database containing photos from a watchlist of selected images from the police database.  Officers are deployed nearby so that they can stop those persons identified and matched with suspects on the database.

In the Romford trial, the facial recognition filming was reported to have taken place from a parked police van and, according to the Metropolitan Police, the reason for the use of the technology was to reduce crime in the area, with a specific focus on tackling violent crime.

Why The Fine?

The trial also attracted the attention of human rights groups, such as Liberty and Big Brother Watch, members of which were nearby and were monitoring the trial.

It was reported that the man who was fined, who hasn’t been named by police, was observed pulling his jumper over part of his face and putting his head down while walking past the police cameras, possibly in response to having seen placards warning that passers-by were the subjects of filing by police automatic facial recognition cameras.

It has been reported that the police then stopped the man to talk to him about what they may have believed was suspicious behaviour and asked to see his identification. According to police reports, it was at this point that the man became aggressive, made threats towards officers and was issued with a penalty notice for disorder as a result.

8 Hours, 8 Arrests – But Only 3 From Technology

Reports indicate that the eight-hour trial of the technology resulted in eight arrests, but only three of those arrests were as a direct result of facial recognition technology.

Criticism

Some commentators have criticised this and other trials for being shambolic, for not providing value for money, and for resulting in mistaken identity.

Research Questions Reliability

Research by the University of Cardiff examined the use of facial recognition technology across several sporting and entertainment events in Cardiff for over a year, including the UEFA Champion’s League Final and the Autumn Rugby Internationals.  The research found that for 68% of submissions made by police officers in the Identify mode, the image had too low a quality for the system to work. Also, the research found that the locate mode of the FRT system couldn’t correctly identify a person of interest for 76% of the time.

Also, in December 2018, ICO head Elizabeth Dunham was reported to have launched a formal investigation into how police forces use facial recognition technology (FRT) after high failure rates, misidentifications and worries about legality, bias, and privacy.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

It has been reported that spending over £200,000 on the deployment of facial recognition trials on 6 deployments between August 2016 and July 2018, no arrests were made.  On the surface, these figures suggest that, although the technology has the potential to add value and save costs, and although businesses in town centres are likely to welcome efforts to reduce crime, the trials to date don’t appear to have delivered value-for-money to taxpayers.

There was also criticism of the facial recognition system used in Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square over two days in the run-up to Christmas, where freedom campaigners such as Big Brother Watch and Liberty were concerned about mixed messages from police about how those who turn away from facial recognition cameras mounted in/on police vans because they don’t want to be scanned could be treated.

Despite some valid worries and criticism, most businesses and members of the public would probably agree that CCTV systems have a real value in helping to deter criminal activity, locating and catching perpetrators, and providing evidence for arrests and trials.  There are, however, several concerns, particularly among freedom and privacy groups, about how just how facial recognition systems are being (and will be) used as part of policing e.g. overt or covert, issues of consent, possible wrongful arrests due to system inaccuracies, and the widening of the scope of its purpose from the police’s stated aims.  Issues of trust where our personal data is concerned are still a problem, as are worries about a ‘big brother’ situation for many people.

Psychologists from the University of Calgary have published a study in the JAMA journal of Paediatrics, which found that 2-5 years olds who engaged in more screen time received worse scores in developmental screening tests.

The Study

The toddlers in the study were from 2,500 Alberta homes between 2011 and 2016.  Their families or caregivers were asked to report on how much time the toddlers spent in front of screens. The toddlers were reported to be averaging 2-3 hours per day screen time, and their families/caregivers filled out standard questionnaires about the basic motor and communication skills of the toddlers.  Results were reported for the children at 24, 36 and 60 months old.

Correlation Found

The study revealed a perhaps unsurprising correlation between more screen time and lower results.  For example, greater screen time at 24 months was found to be associated with poorer performance on developmental screening tests at 36 months, and greater screen time at 36 months was found to be associated with lower scores on developmental screening tests at 60 months.

In short, the study found that those toddlers who had excessive screen time were failing to meet developmental milestones in language and communication, problem-solving, and fine and gross motor skills.

Missing Important Interactions

Lead author of the report of the study, Sheri Madigan, commented on the University of Calgary website that if children are consumed with screen time, they aren’t getting enough physical activity, and that this means they aren’t developing the motor skills they need to run, ride a bike, or throw a ball. Madigan said that positive stimulation that aids physical and cognitive development comes from interactions with caregivers and that when children are “in front of their screens, these important parent-child interactions aren’t happening, and this can delay or derail children’s development.”

What Use Are The Results?

The authors of the report, Madigan and Dr Suzanne Tough, have suggested that the findings from this study could, for example, be of use to health-care professionals who are seeking to guide parents on the appropriate screen time limits for their children.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

As any parent of young children will know, and indeed as the authors of the report have acknowledged, technology is deeply entrenched in modern-day lives, and spending time in front of a screen is something that children do today as part of learning, playing an interacting with their peers.  The point here is that too much screen time for very young children (2 to 5) can set their personal development back in many important areas.

The authors of the report have said that parents needn’t become too concerned, because children’s brains develop over the course of childhood and beyond, so there’s time to make changes.  The authors also suggest that one way that parents can minimise damage to the development of their children from too much screen time by creating and implementing a family media plan. This can involve controlling the number of hours spent in front of screens, establishing device-free zones e.g. at the dinner table, and introducing baskets where everybody puts their devices at certain times of the day, in order to make time for the family connect and interact.

The fact that the voiceprints of more than 2 million people have been added to HMRC’s Voice ID scheme since June 2018, to add to the 5 million plus other voiceprints already collected, has led to complaints and challenges to the lawfulness of the system by privacy campaigners.

What HMRC Biometric Database System?

Back in January 2017, HMRC introduced a system whereby customers calling the tax credits and Self-Assessment helpline could enrol for voice identification (Voice ID) as a means of speeding up the security steps. The system uses 100 different characteristics to recognise the voice of an individual and can create a voiceprint that is unique to that individual.

When customers call HMRC for the first time, they are asked to repeat a vocal passphrase up to five times before speaking to a human adviser.  The recorded passphrase is stored in an HMRC database and can be used as a means of verification/authentication in future calls.

Got Voices By The Back Door Said Big Brother Watch

It has been reported that in the 18 months following the introduction of the system, HMRC acquired 5.1 million people’s voiceprints this way.

Back in June 2018, privacy campaigning group ‘Big Brother Watch’ reported that its own investigation had revealed that HMRC had (allegedly) taken 5.1 million taxpayers’ biometric voiceprints without their consent.

Big Brother Watch alleged that the automated system offered callers no choice but to do as instructed and create a biometric voice ID for a Government database.  The only way to avoid creating the voice ID on calling, as identified by Big Brother Watch, was to say “no” three times to the automated questions, whereupon the system still resolved to offer a voice ID next time.

Big Brother Watch were concerned that GDPR prohibits the processing of biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a person, unless the there is a lawful basis under Article 6, and that because voiceprints are sensitive data but are not strictly necessary for dealing with tax issues, HMRC should request the explicit consent of each taxpayer to enrol them in the scheme (Article 9 of GDPR).

This led to Big Brother Watch registering a formal complaint with the ICO, the result of which is still to be announced.

Changes

Big Brother Watch’s complaint may have been the prompt for changes to the Voice ID system. In September 2018, HMRC permanent secretary John Thompson said that HMRC felt it had been acting lawfully, by relying on the implicit consent of users.  Mr Thompson acknowledged, however, that the original messages that were played to callers had not explicitly stated it was possible, or how, to opt out of the voice ID system, and that, in the light of this, the message had been updated (in July 2018) to make this clear.

Mass Deletions?

On the point of whether HMRC would consider deleting the 6 million voiceprint profiles of people who registered before the wording was changed to include ty opt-out option, Mr Thompson has said that HMRC will wait for the completion of the ICO’s investigation.

Backlash

Big Brother Watch has highlighted a backlash against the Voice ID system as indicated by the 162,185 people who have called HMRC to have their Voice IDs deleted.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Even though many businesses and organisations are switching/planning to switch to using biometric identification/verification systems in place of less secure password-based systems, it is still important to remember that these are subject to GDPR. For example, images and unique Voiceprint IDs are personal data that require explicit consent to be given, and that people have the right to opt out as well as to opt-in.

It remains to be seen whether the outcome of the ICO investigation will require mass deletions of Voice ID profiles.  Big Brother Watch states on its website that if people are not happy about the HMRC system they can complain to the HMRC directly (via the government website) or file a complaint about the HMRC system to the ICO via the ICO website (the ICO is already investigating HMRC about the matter).  HMRC has said that all the voice data is stored securely and that customers can now opt out of Voice ID or delete their records any time they want.

The UK government is urging organisations that benefit from European Union (EU) research funding to sign-up to a UK-led replacement scheme now in order to guarantee that their Horizon 2020 project funding can continue after Brexit.

What Is Horizon 2020?

Dating back to 2014, Horizon 2020 from the EU, is the largest ever European funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of 79 billion euros and is set to run until 2020.  It is aimed at improving Europe’s global competitiveness in research and innovation.  Applications for the funding are open to registered businesses, charities, partnerships or research organisations with a legal standing across the EU. For example, higher education institutions, public bodies and charities make up many of the applicants.

What’s The Problem?
The concern, highlighted by The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), is that when the UK leaves the EU (possibly without a deal), in order to ensure no disruption in the receipt of funding that organisations are currently receiving from the EU’s Horizon 2020 project, they will need to sign up to a UK-led replacement programme that guarantees continuity in a no-deal Brexit scenario.  According to BEIS figures, therefore, the 2,700 public and private sector organisations that are receiving Horizon 2020 funding from the EU but have not yet signed up to the replacement programme could be at risk of disruption in funding and delays to future grants if they don’t sign up asap.

Guaranteed

Although the Science and Innovation Minister, Chris Skidmore, has guaranteed that UK organisations and businesses who already receive EU science and research funding will continue to do so, even if there’s no-deal Brexit at the end of March, he is urging businesses to register their details on a simple online portal for Horizon 2020 grants in future.

Online Portal – Doesn’t Take Long

The BEIS is, therefore, encouraging the remaining 2,700 businesses to join the current 5,500 registrations to date, to sign-up on the online portal. Reports suggest that it only takes around ten minutes per grant for the data to be inputted. The new portal can be found here:  https://www.ukri.org/funding/how-to-apply/

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

If you are a business or an organisation that receives Horizon 2020, and if you haven’t already done so, the advice is to sign-up via the government’s online portal (run by UKRI) to the UK-led replacement programme in order to avoid disruption to funding.  The BEIS has said, for example, that If an organisation leaves it until 5th March, ahead of a no-deal Brexit on 29 March 2019, they could be risking delays to future Horizon 2020 funding.