brendang_sd (u/brendang_sd)

brendang_sd commented on Class-action suit claims Otter AI records private work conversations npr.org/2025/08/15/g-s1-8... · Posted by u/nsedlet

protonbob · 9 days ago

If it is just a tool then a tape recorder company should be liable as well. It doesn't do any sort of notice or make it obvious that someone is being recorded.

brendang_sd · 9 days ago

If the tape recorder were to automatically start recording whenever a meeting started and silently add itself to physical rooms unexpectedly... you might have a point.

The tape recorder manufacturer also doesn’t claim the right to permanently own anything it’s users record, with or without permission.

brendang_sd commented on Class-action suit claims Otter AI records private work conversations npr.org/2025/08/15/g-s1-8... · Posted by u/nsedlet

athenot · 9 days ago

I remember being on sensitive zoom calls and seeing Otter.ai join. Had to track down which person was using it, and even they were clueless as to how it got there, and the client kept rejoining despite the user trying to stop it.

I've never used this service so I don't know if the user was being particularly clueless or if some dark pattern was at play; I suspect it's probably a little bit of both.

brendang_sd · 9 days ago

You knew what to look for, and were presumably logged into a device which showed you participants... now imagine if you were on the go, or not very technical so joined from a phone using a phone # and a meeting code... you'd never see it or be aware. I contend Otter knows exactly what they are doing and hopefully this lawsuit gets them to get a bit more transparent and law abiding.

brendang_sd commented on Class-action suit claims Otter AI records private work conversations npr.org/2025/08/15/g-s1-8... · Posted by u/nsedlet

bilekas · 9 days ago

> I think it might be that services like Otter need to be adjusted to take into account that not every part of a meeting is of equal sensitivity.

One would like to think that a company transcribing company meetings of varying degrees of sensitivity would have the feature you're describing built into it. If nothing else other than the auditing process that's usually involved for new software.

Maybe just those companies in a rush to adopt the latest AI tooling are not fully considering what they're doing.

brendang_sd · 9 days ago

That’s part of it too, the bigger issue is the knowledge and consent of other participants.

I know someone who is involved in a lawsuit regarding a child, and one of the lawyers used this service to record and transcribe a very confidential meeting. Their first awareness of the illegal wiretapping by this company was when a summary email showed up at the end of the meeting. Needless to say, they weren’t happy, not just about the surreptitious recording, but also the discovery that the contents of that confidential coal will live forever in Otter’s training set. When the company was asked about this, they dismissed any kind of responsibility of their own, and noted it the responsibility of their subscribers to use the product appropriately.

brendang_sd commented on Class-action suit claims Otter AI records private work conversations npr.org/2025/08/15/g-s1-8... · Posted by u/nsedlet

blitzar · 9 days ago

I cant believe I am going to say this - but I am on the Ai company side.

They recorded the call and sent it to all participants. Its not their fault the users are idiots.

brendang_sd · 9 days ago

That’s the problem though, getting the email with a copy of the recording may be the unwitting participants first indication that the call was recorded without their knowledge or consent.

Otters defense is that it’s up to their users to inform other participants and get their consent where necessary, the claim of the lawsuit is that Otter is deliberately making a product which does not make it obvious that the call is being recorded, and by default does not send a pre-meeting notice that it will be joining and recording.

brendang_sd commented on Arizona laptop farmer pleads guilty for funneling $17M to Kim Jong Un theregister.com/2025/02/1... · Posted by u/Bluestein

jollyllama · 4 months ago

ADP could probably find a lot of these pretty quickly.

brendang_sd · 4 months ago

If you go asking ADP for this kind of information, they will refuse citing the privacy of the workers. We tried it at a previous company I worked at.

brendang_sd commented on · Posted by u/thesuperbigfrog

brendang_sd · 6 months ago

“Beginning on January 8, 2025”

Biden created and unleashed DOGE 12 days before he left office?

brendang_sd commented on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (September 2024) · Posted by u/whoishiring

brendang_sd · a year ago

Location: South Dakota, USA

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: Yes, though not until summer 2025 at earliest.

Technologies: C#, .NET (Framework & Core), Go lang, Python, AWS, Azure, RabbitMQ, Win, Mac, Linux, Powershell, Bash, CrowdStrike.

Résumé/CV: https://www.brendangrant.com/resume/Brendan%20Grant%20-%20hn...

Email: brendan+hn{@}brendangrant.com

blurb: Software/Systems/Security engineer with a rather eclectic background with many lessons learned over 20+ years having worked on everything from insider threats and endpoint security at scale to hand-held embedded electronics for calibration of digital televisions and cloud based payment systems processing billions per year in giving, stay-at-home serves to enterprise servers, when one opportunity ends I am always eager for new and interesting challenges, doubly so when faced with opportunities to grow my skill set, as well as increase the breadth and depth of experience.