Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) will carry out the testing. The agency plans on using it more widely next year. The country is hoping the software will analyze and identify the dialects of the people seeking asylum in the country. The analysis will be based on recorded speech samples.
Migration officers will use the information as one of the indicators considered when reviewing a person’s application for asylum. The technology is based on voice authentication software that insurance companies and banks currently use. However, the technology is going to be modified to analyze dialects.
@V_of_Europe This won't work. I have the old version and, still works best. Old Dialect Recognition Software Ver.1.0. You dial Samuel Colt and you shoot
— The Arhitekt (@thearhitekt) March 17, 2017
@V_of_Europe @AlbionAwakes Germany is going to collapse soon
— Coonbeux (@NationCarrion) March 18, 2017
A spokeswoman for the BAMF said the software will complement the methods they currently use to verify an applicant’s identity. Andrea Brinkmann spoke with The Associated Press, saying officials will still rely on other types of information, such as documents given to them by the asylum-seeker, before a final decision is made.
Linguistic experts are used by German authorities. Since the 90s, this method has been used. Furthermore, a draft bill from the Interior Ministry will allow migration officers to confiscate laptops and smartphones were presented last month. Privacy advocates have expressed concerned over the draft bill.
Monika Schmidt, a linguistic expert, spoke with Deutsche Welle, and said the automated process can be fraught. She said that an analyst that has a solid background in linguistic analysis would be needed in order to identify a person’s region of origin.
Schmidt said people could adapt the way they speak to the speech patterns of their interlocutors. She doubted how software would be able to identify whether an applicant uses a certain word or pronounces it in a certain way because they were primed to do it by an interviewer or if it is part of their own repertoire.
