Speech Technology - October 2008 - (Page 29)

LEGAL ISSUES WITH SPEECH But privacy takes on a whole other set of challenges when it comes to the customer; every precaution must be taken to safeguard the information given to the IVR or live agent during a recorded transaction. The growing concern is that call center operators and independent thirdparty monitors and auditors can steal customer account information, passwords, and other sensitive information— a possibility made even easier by call recordings that allow them to go back and review any information they may have missed the first time around. This comes at a time when identity theft is on the rise and consumers’ confidence in companies’ abilities to protect their private information is slipping. In fact, a recent study conducted by Harris Interactive for Nuance Communications found that 52 percent of consumers were somewhat to not at all secure about the safety of their personal data given to an IVR or live agent. Though it has not yet become law, the credit card industry has drafted a set of standards that mandate greater data pro- tection. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard outlines 12 steps that any company or organization that stores or processes credit card information must follow: 1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data. 2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security passwords. 3. Protect stored cardholder data. This includes not storing cardholder information, or eliminating or masking that information in recordings, unless it is absolutely necessary. 4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks. 5. Use and update antivirus software. 6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications. 7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know. 8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access so that any action taken on critical data can be traced to a specific user. 9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data. This includes storing recordings and other media backup in a secure location, preferably in an off-site facility, and destroying such files when they are no longer necessary. 10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data. 11. Regularly test security systems and processes. 12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security. This includes thorough screening and background checks for all potential employees to minimize the risk of data loss from internal sources. First created in 2004 by PCI member companies like Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, and then amended in 2006, the PCI standards apply as much to call centers as they do to retailers, online merchants, and financial institutions. On its Web site, the PCI Security Standards Council clearly states that the recommendations apply to call centers that store, process, or transmit cardholder data in audio recordings. The standards apply TELEMARKETING LAWS AMENDED, AGAIN T he U.S. Federal Trade Commission in late August amended the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to expressly bar telemarketing calls greeting by the consumer who answers; 3. Disclose at the outset of the call that the recipient may ask to be placed on the company’s do-not-call list at any time during the message; 4. If the call is answered by a person, make an automated voice and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism available that adds the phone number to the company’s do-not-call list and ends the call; and 5. If the call is answered by an answering machine or voicemail, provide a toll-free number that allows the person to connect to a voice and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism. Another related technical amendment modifies the TSR’s method of calculating the maximum permissible level of call abandonment, a side effect of predictive dialers that place calls in anticipation that a salesperson will become available by the time a call is answered. Inevitably, a call will sometimes connect when no sales representative is available. The TSR sets a limit on how often this can occur. It requires that at least 97 percent of a telemarketer’s calls that are answered in person and not by an answering machine or voicemail service be connected to a salesperson within two seconds after a consumer answers. The amendment will retain the current 3 percent permissible abandonment rate, but will permit it to be calculated over a 30-day period, rather than on a daily basis, as is now the case. “Just like the provisions of the Do Not Call Registry, these changes will protect consumers’ privacy,” FTC Chairman William Kovacic said in a statement. “The amendments now directly enable consumers to choose whether they want to receive prerecorded telemarketing calls.” --L.K. that deliver prerecorded messages unless a consumer has agreed to accept such calls from the seller. The amendment, which officially goes into effect in September 2009, alters the current requirement that companies only had to have a prior business relationship with the intended recipient of such calls. The amendment also requires that, by December 1, telemarketers provide call recipients with an automated opt-out mechanism, either by voice command or keypad entry, at the start of the prerecorded message. The amendment does not distinguish between calls answered in person or by an answering machine or voicemail service. The changes do not affect current exceptions for healthcare-related prerecorded messages, such as appointment reminders, and other informational prerecorded messages, such as flight cancellation notices, because they do not attempt to sell any goods or services. One change, however, allows charitable solicitation calls placed by for-profit telemarketers that deliver prerecorded messages on behalf of nonprofits to members of, or previous donors to, the nonprofit; those calls must also include the same opt-out mechanism. Other stipulations contained in the prerecorded call amendments require all prerecorded telemarketing calls to do the following: 1. Allow the telephone to ring for at least four times before an unanswered call is disconnected; 2. Begin the prerecorded message within two seconds of a completed

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Speech Technology - October 2008

Speech Technology - October 2008 Contents Editor’s Letter Industry View Inside Outsourcing Interact Keynoter Highlights the Shrinking Technological World Former Hacker Tackles IVR and Biometrics ‘Press 1’ for Caller Thoughts Soundbytes Voice Vote A New Dragon Emerges Overheard/Underheard An Emotional Mess Emotional Intelligence The Case for Call Recording Unified in Care and Communications An Education in E-Learning Guest Column Standards Speech Solutions Voice Value Forward Thinking

Speech Technology - October 2008

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