back to article UK taxman has amassed voice profiles of 5.1 million taxpayers

Campaign group Big Brother Watch has accused HMRC of creating ID cards by stealth after it was revealed the UK taxman has amassed a database of 5.1 million people's voiceprints. The department introduced its Voice ID system in January 2017. This requires taxpayers calling HMRC to record a key phrase, which is used to create a …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    5.1 million people's voiceprints on record

    worry not, they're in the safe hands, protected by the top-world-best-guaranteed-security-systems! They will NEVER get hacked!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Information Commissioner's Office confirmed

    that it's writing a VERY angry letter indeed, and is prepared to follow it with the most severe and crippling financial penalties to the tune of (up to) £30K no less!

    by the way, did you hear about those tax increase promised lately? ;)

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. 89724102172714582892524I7751670349743096734346773478647892349863592355648544996312855148587659264921

    Where the heck is the opt out?

    They just sprang it on me with no option to opt out! Annoyed, I tried my Barry White impression which just got a "Sorry I don't speak jive", or somesuch. Then I tried hanging up, hoping I'd lost some kind of phone based lottery but no, same blasted vocal data slurpage into who knows where and for who the hell knows what purpose. Even if they claim to destroy these voiceprints, they'll keep it all squirrelled away because it's too damn (potentially) useful when combined with mass monitoring of phone calls/Voip/street eavesdropping. Or something.

  5. Velv
    Coat

    Penalties for breach of GDPR

    Up to €20,000,000, or 4% of annual turnover, whichever is higher.

    HMRC Annual Report 2017, £574,000,000,000 (£574billion) total tax revenues

    4% fine is £22billion

    So that’s where the government is getting the extra funds for the NHS #sarcasm

  6. steviebuk Silver badge

    Call them up and say...

    "my voice is my password verify me"

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So....about these recordings.....

    ..... which my room mate has made of John Humphries (Radio 4) and Fiona Bruce (BBC TV). It's been fun watching the use of Audacity to edit these into useful chunks and then seeing the phone call to HMRC about tax matters. They're working on Theresa May and Boris Johnson right now. Jeremy Hunt is in the list, and Jacob Rees-Mogg too.

    *

    Isn't technology wonderful?

    1. Velv

      Re: So....about these recordings.....

      Q division got there years ago. Diamonds Are Forevery anyone?

      But seriously. Is there a deep fake available yet that can voice change as we speak?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So....about these recordings.....

      .....and it's not just your room mate.....Interpol is doing EXACTLY the same thing, except on a somewhat larger scale:

      -https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/interpol-voice-identification-database/

      Your tax euro, your tax pound at work!!!!

  8. JaitcH
    FAIL

    Don't Talk To Me - I'm Hard Of Hearing (Wink, Wink) - Use Text!

    When I found out all Passport pictures were captured to a computerised database. I progressively changed my appearance with Photoshop over a few years (I usually have to renew every 12-18 months when filled) until a company biometric scanner rejected me. (The US has donated numerous cams to Third World countries).

    Then the renowned money launderers, HSBC, surreptitiously introduced 'voice analysis' - without announcement - although their technicians mentioned it in technical magazines.

    There are two practical ways to defeat these 'voice analysis' systems. One is to make calls with a radio or other disruptive variable tones in the background. The other is the use electronic filters to narrow a telephone calls bandwidth (especially raising the bass) or a Tremolo unit to distort the voice.

    Mind you, when conversing to an overseas HSBC Call Centre, the lines are so poor the systems don't function.

    There is little more personal than biometric data.

    1. Clarecats

      Re: Don't Talk To Me - I'm Hard Of Hearing (Wink, Wink) - Use Text!

      "There are two practical ways to defeat these 'voice analysis' systems. One is to make calls with a radio or other disruptive variable tones in the background."

      I'm reading this with a large truck reversing outside the window, making a nice loud beep - beep. Hardly my fault if I make the call now.

      Puzzled as to why / how you were altering your appearance with Photoshop. Maybe better not to know.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A majority of response are missing the broader Privacy implications of using Biometrics..

    Biometric profiles (of any kind) are regarded as personal data IE used to identify an individual – that is the easy bit over! The global wave of privacy concerns may be the 'Achilles heel' of the ‘convenience’ story proposed by the Biometric movement.

    Early experiments with citizen ID systems (too many to mention) did not have quite so many problems as the potential benefits outweighed any downside IE registration and clunky authentication. Now that Biometrics are being deployed to reduce friction of authentication, we are seeing real problems as the persistence of Biometric profiles is mutually exclusive with Privacy!

    India has Aadhaar, one of the world’s largest national ID systems is beset with verification problems when using biometrics, recently a process to register with mobile network operators with biometrics was suspended because of ‘Biometric Phishing’!

    Privacy concerns are going to be a big issue whenever Biometrics are deployed, the inevitable standardization governing profile (3 – 5 year’s time) will only make things worse, once a Biometric profile is on the dark web, it is gone for life as a reliable credential.

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