Vanguard Marketing Corporation, the complaint for this class action alleges, uses a system that “combines audio, voice, and artificial intelligence technologies” to determine whether callers are making true or false statements. The complaint alleges that this practice violates the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), particularly its provisions about the recording or examination of California residents’ voice prints or voice stress patterns without their consent.
The class for this action is all residents of California who had their voice prints or other voice stress patterns examined or recorded by Vanguard to determine the truth or falsity of their statements.
CIPA has a very specific provision about the recording or examination of voice prints. The complaint quotes it as prohibiting the use of “any system which examines or records in any manner voice prints or other voice stress patterns of another person to determine the truth or falsity of statements made by such person without his or her express written consent given in advance of the examination or recordation.”
The complaint also quotes Vanguard’s website on its voice verification system: “Our system uses sophisticated biometric technology to identify the unique patterns of your voice.” The system is then purportedly used to authenticate callers’ identities. While the company claims that customers must first set up system for their voice, the complaint alleges that the system is used to analyze their voices whether they have set anything up or not.
The complaint alleges that the company first makes a recording of the customer’s voice, examining it “to identify specific stress patterns and other characteristics to create a ‘voice print’ which is entered into a database” and then comparing voice prints from later calls from the same customer to those on file.
However, the voice prints may be used even for first-time callers to determine whether they are telling the truth, the complaint alleges, using certain “audible indications of lying” which include such things as changes in breathing, changes in speech patterns, rises or falls in tone, and phrases such as, “Honestly” or “I want to be honest with you,” and other purported tells.
According to the complaint, Vanguard’s system “uses the full audio of a call to determine its characteristics,” including acoustic and behavioral features, to determine whether the person is telling the truth or lying.
The complaint claims, “The system [Vanguard] uses is very similar to a Polygraph Test. Such a system is exactly what the California Legislature chose to regulate when it made it unlawful to use without express consent.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Privacy
Most Recent Case Event
Vanguard Marketing Voice Prints to Determine Truth California Complaint
October 28, 2022
Vanguard Marketing Corporation, the complaint for this class action alleges, uses a system that “combines audio, voice, and artificial intelligence technologies” to determine whether callers are making true or false statements. The complaint alleges that this practice violates the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), particularly its provisions about the recording or examination of California residents’ voice prints or voice stress patterns without their consent.
Vanguard Marketing Voice Prints to Determine Truth California ComplaintCase Event History
Vanguard Marketing Voice Prints to Determine Truth California Complaint
October 28, 2022
Vanguard Marketing Corporation, the complaint for this class action alleges, uses a system that “combines audio, voice, and artificial intelligence technologies” to determine whether callers are making true or false statements. The complaint alleges that this practice violates the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), particularly its provisions about the recording or examination of California residents’ voice prints or voice stress patterns without their consent.
Vanguard Marketing Voice Prints to Determine Truth California Complaint