Transcription, recording and Voice Isolation feature of meetings in Microsoft Teams

Transcription captures the spoken text in near real time during Teams meetings. Meeting recordings capture what happens during the meeting, including audio, video, chat messages, and shared content such as presentations or screen sharing.  Participants are notified when the live transcription and/or recording is active during the meetings. Regarding transcription, if the participants prefer not to be identified, they can choose to turn off speaker attribution in their profile settings. The Voice Isolation is an entirely optional feature, where voice profile is used to suppress background noises in Teams meetings through voice isolation. When using an intelligent speaker, a voice profile is used to identify one in meeting transcripts. By default, voice isolation is disabled. If users enroll their voice profile, they can always choose to unenroll it later.

Valmet collects only the minimum necessary data for transcription, recording and voice isolation purposes. The processed data concerning voice isolation include meeting participant´s name, email address, voice capture/audio recording and meeting transcripts. The processed data related to meeting recordings include meeting participant´s name, email address, audio recording and video. Transcription data comprises meeting participant´s name, email address, audio recordings and transcription results. During the meetings, participants´ contributions are transcribed. These audio files are used for transcription purposes. The written transcripts are stored with the meeting recordings in Teams and SharePoint storage, capturing the spoken content during the meeting. Any user who attended the meeting can download the transcription as a file and save it wherever they choose. Additionally, the recordings can be played back within Teams or downloaded by any user who attended the meeting.

Legal basis for the processing is Valmet´s legitimate interest in facilitating efficient communication and collaboration with meeting participants, both in internal and external meetings within the organization.

Valmet Oyj acts as the data controller for this processing. The meeting organizer is responsible for determining how the transcription is used. The transcription serves several purposes. Firstly, it ensures accessibility by providing a recap of meeting discussions for those who were unable to attend the meeting. Secondly, it facilitates reviewing and referencing details of the meeting later. Additionally, documentation can be valuable for legal and compliance purposes. Meeting recordings serve the same purposes, but in video form. If there has been a presentation or screen sharing, the video recording contains essential information.

Valmet strongly advises not to share any sensitive data, including information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health data, and data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation – whether it concerns yourself or another individual.

The collected data may be accessed by relevant personnel within the Valmet group and by Valmet’s data processors. By default, Valmet stores the data in the EU. However, when needed, the data may be accessed by Valmet personnel or Valmet data processors from Valmet locations outside of the EEA. EU Model Clauses are used as appropriate safeguards for access from outside of the EEA unless the EU Commission has determined that the country of access has an adequate level of data protection. The retention period for Microsoft Teams recordings (including transcripts) is 180 days. However, if these recordings are stored independently in Microsoft Stream, they fall under Valmet´s 4-year retention policy. It is important to note that there is no automatic placement of recordings into Microsoft Stream; this will only occur if the user takes specific action.

If a user is enrolled in the Voice Isolation feature and has an active Teams account, Microsoft will retain user´s voice profile. If the user unenrolls from the feature, the voice profile will be removed immediately. The user´s voice profile will be removed within 90 days if their Teams account is deleted. A voice profile that hasn´t been used for a year will be automatically removed.    

Valmet does not sell personal information. We are committed to protecting your privacy.

Valmet will support the applicable data subject’s rights when we are able to identify the data subject. This includes rights of access to, rectification of, or erasure of personal data.  This may also include the restriction of data processing concerning the data subject, or their objection to data processing, including direct marketing. The data subject has the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (data protection authority). The complaint can be made with the supervisory authority in the EU member state where the data subject resides.