Speech to Text (STT) & Azure Cognitive Services Data Retention

This article explains how Liberty Court Recorder’s Speech to Text (STT) feature uses Azure Cognitive Speech Services, and whether court audio is retained in Azure.

1. How Audio Is Passed to Azure Cognitive Services

General overview

Audio Transmission

When you use Azure Cognitive Speech Services (Speech-to-Text), audio is sent via the Speech SDK or REST API to the service endpoint. For real-time transcription, audio streams directly to Azure. For batch transcription, audio is uploaded to a storage location you specify, and the service processes it from there.

Retention Policy

By default, Azure does not retain audio or transcripts beyond what is necessary to provide the service. If diagnostic logging (tracing) is disabled, no audio or transcription data is stored. If tracing is enabled, audio may be temporarily stored in the region you selected, accessible only to you. Microsoft does not use this data for advertising or unrelated purposes – it is processed solely to deliver the requested service.

Compliance and Control

Customers are responsible for compliance with privacy laws and must configure retention settings. Features such as restrictOutboundNetworkAccess and customer-managed encryption keys provide additional security.

2. How Liberty Court Recorder Uses Azure Cognitive Speech Services

Liberty Court Recorder is produced by High Criteria

Integration Process

Liberty Court Recorder (LCR) works with Post Recording Manager (PRM), which monitors the folders where Liberty recordings are saved. PRM’s Speech-to-Text (STT) service sends these recordings to Azure Cognitive Speech Services for transcription. The result is returned as an RTF text file for editing and proofing.

Audio Handling

LCR records multi-channel audio (up to 8 or more channels) to improve speaker separation and transcription accuracy. These files remain on your local or network storage – Azure only processes them temporarily for transcription. Liberty does not store court audio permanently in Azure unless the option to store files from processing is ticked in PRM (off by default). The audio is transmitted for processing and returned as text. Responsibility for storage and deletion lies wholly with the client’s local storage network.

Data Sovereignty

Courts typically configure Azure resources in local regions (for example, Australian data centres) to meet sovereignty requirements. High Criteria recommends setting up an in-country Azure account to meet this requirement.

Faults or questions – raise a support ticket with Redfish Technologies.