Sensitive Australian court records allegedly leaked by transcription provider

Canadian speech to text transcription provider VIQ Solutions allegedly shared sensitive Australian court data with a third-party service based in India in violation of Australian privacy laws.

 

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Tuesday that the transcription service provider, based in Canada and hiring transcribers in Australia, allegedly shared Australian court records with e24 Technologies, a transcription provider based in Chennai, India, without notifying the courts and thereby breaching its Commonwealth contract.

 

VIQ Solutions provides high-quality audio recording and speech-to-text transcription services to organisations worldwide. The company said it has more than thirty years of experience creating transcripts for legal matters and has solution deployments in tens of thousands of courtrooms in over 25 countries.

 

The company also offers as-broadcast transcription, pre-feed transcription, B-roll logging and rush from-air transcription services to media organisations, and transcription of public official records and highly confidential recordings for government institutions and political constituencies.

 

In June 2022, the company announced a six-year contract, extendable to ten years, to provide transcription and recording services to Queensland Courts Department of Justice and Attorney General. "The contract allows for the Company to provide high-quality monitoring and transcription services ensuring precision, prompt delivery and confidentiality to all courts and tribunals in the state," VIQ said.

 

"VIQ employs court trained monitors and transcriptionists who are highly skilled in producing accurate records for their valued customers, including DJAG. Under the first statement of work, VIQ is expecting to be assigned 12,000 hours of monitoring services and production of more than 500,000 transcript folios annually," it added.

 

The company also provides transcription services to the South Australian Employment Tribunal and the court systems in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.

 

According to ABC, VIQ’s Australia-based employees recently raised alarm over the company sharing highly-sensitive court recordings with an India-based company in violation of its contract and Australian law. They said Indian employees of e24 Technologies accessed court recordings outside working hours and transcribed them at great speed, though with significant errors.

 

When the employees raised the issue internally with the company management, they were told that e24 resources were based in Sydney and were told not to spread insinuation and rumours and not communicate any information that has not been confirmed by the senior leadership.

 

ABC said the data-sharing could have significant data privacy implications as they contain sensitive personal and financial information on children, citizens and corporations. The data leak could also compromise the identities of witnesses, informers, whistle-blowers, and undercover law enforcement personnel.

 

The company’s chief executive officer Larry Taylor told ABC that VIQ solutions implements strict standards for contractors "to ensure we protect the privacy, confidentiality and security of sensitive customer data, such as court recordings".

 

"When VIQ contracts work to companies like e24, they are required to adhere to the same strict privacy guidelines, service delivery standards and confidentiality as all employees. All customer data is stored in Australia in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), for Australian clients," he added.