Across all commercial sectors, the information you entrust to translators and interpreters is often highly sensitive: case files, medical records, privileged communication, or personal data under GDPR. Ensuring data privacy and confidentiality is absolutely essential.
At Silent Sounds, we take this seriously, and recent innovations in our video interpreting platform, InterpretManager are helping raise the bar even higher.
Here’s what clients should look for, what legal obligations apply, and how new technology (on-demand video interpreting) can help protect your data.
The true cost of confidentiality
When using interpreting or translation services, breaches in privacy can lead to:
- Legal exposure (GDPR violations, breach of legal privilege)
- Reputational harm and loss of trust
- Misinformation or misunderstanding in critical domains (law, medicine)
- Risk to parties’ safety or rights
Hence, confidentiality isn’t optional – it must be embedded throughout the entire workflow.
Why free tools like Google Translate are not suitable for professional or regulated content
Free online translator tools may seem convenient, but they pose serious risks when accuracy and confidentiality matter.
No data privacy
Anything entered into Google Translate can be stored, analysed, or reused to train its systems, meaning your information is no longer private or fully under your control. Sensitive or regulated content (such as medical or legal text) can easily violate GDPR or HIPAA standards.
No cultural or contextual understanding
Free tools translate words, not meaning. They miss tone, nuance, and cultural context, which can cause serious misunderstandings — especially in legal, medical, or community settings.
No accountability or certification
Machine translations can’t be certified or audited for accuracy. There’s no quality assurance, audit trail, or human review process.
By contrast, Silent Sounds ensures:
- Data security and confidentiality through encryption and NDAs
- Cultural accuracy and context from trained linguists
- Certified quality, backed by human expertise and full compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO standards
In short: free tools are fine for casual use, but when precision, privacy, or professionalism matter, human translation and review are the only reliable options.
Legal and regulatory and compliance frameworks
Interpreting and translation providers must meet rigorous data privacy and security requirements, both in the UK and internationally. Silent Sounds complies with, and in many areas exceeds these standards.
UK frameworks:
- UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018: Core principles of lawfulness, transparency, confidentiality, integrity, and minimisation apply.
- Professional codes and registers: NRPSI and other bodies mandate strict confidentiality and ethical conduct.
- ISO standards and accreditation: ISO 27001 (information security), ISO 9001 (quality management), and ISO 18841:2018 (interpreting services) certification.
International and sector-specific compliance:
- HIPAA compliance ensures we meet the highest standards of healthcare data protection and patient confidentiality (critical for NHS and healthcare clients).
- SOC 2 Type II audit confirms that our systems and processes meet stringent controls for security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
- TX-RAMP Level 2 certification demonstrates that our systems meet the security and risk management standards required by government agencies.
- IMS compliance (Integrated Management System) ensures that all quality, security, and privacy processes work seamlessly together under one governance structure.
Silent Sounds’ on-demand video interpreting app: how it’s evolving and what innovations help privacy
Our innovative on-demand InterpretManager app adds extra layers of data protection, especially useful in high-stakes environments. Features you should know about:
Built-in quality checks
Our platform performs internal quality review automatically (for example: ensuring interpreter accuracy, adherence to protocols). These reviews are often part of “quality calls” or monitoring, to maintain service standards.
Recording policy and privacy by design
Silent Sounds does not record calls or interpreting sessions by default. Recordings are only made when explicitly requested by the client, e.g. for quality assurance or compliance review purposes.
When recordings are made, they are handled under strict safeguards:
- Recordings are broken into encrypted “chunks,” limiting context and protecting identities.
- Each chunk is encrypted both in transit and at rest.
- Review recordings are anonymised, access-controlled, and deleted after use according to our retention policy.
This ensures that no client data is recorded unnecessarily, and that any recordings made under client instruction remain secure, anonymised, and fully compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO standards.
Chunked and encrypted recordings
To balance quality review with privacy:
Recordings are broken down into short segments or “chunks,” limiting context and reducing risk if part of the recording was accessed improperly.
Each chunk is encrypted, so even if someone accessed the recording, they cannot easily reconstruct who was speaking, or identify the parties involved.
Encryption applies both in transit (while data moves between client, platform, interpreter) and at rest (when stored).
Anonymisation and de-identification
Identifying information is removed or masked in the recordings used for review. Any metadata that could reveal identities is stripped out or protected.
Retention and deletion policies
Recordings used for quality checks are retained only as long as needed.
After review, they are either destroyed or anonymised fully so they cannot be linked back to the original parties.
Access control and secure software design
- Only authorised personnel (quality reviewers, platform administrators) have access.
- Multi-factor authentication, audit logs, secure credentials.
- Platform design that prevents exporting or sharing of full long recordings in unprotected form.
These innovations mean that on-demand video interpreting can offer both high-quality assurance and strong privacy and confidentiality protections.
What clients should expect and ask for
To ensure your provider is using best practices (especially if using on-demand video interpreting platforms), ask:
Question What to look for
Do you record interpreting sessions for quality assurance? If so, how are those recordings handled? “Yes, but split into chunks; encrypted; anonymised; limited access.”
How is encryption done (both in transit and at rest)? SSL/TLS, end-to-end encryption, secure storage, etc.
What retention policy do you have for recordings and interpreter notes?
At Silent Sounds:
- Recordings (only when made at client request) are retained strictly for the minimum time needed for quality assurance or compliance checks.
- Interpreter notes are anonymised and securely deleted after review or submission.
- Anonymity is protected throughout, identifying details are stripped, and metadata is removed before any review process.
- Once the retention period ends, all data is permanently deleted or irreversibly anonymised, ensuring no link to the original assignment remains.
Are there NDAs or confidentiality agreements for everyone involved (interpreters, platform staff, reviewers)?
Yes. All interpreters, administrative staff, and platform reviewers are bound by confidentiality and ethical agreements.
- Every interpreter signs a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and adheres to professional codes such as NRPSI’s confidentiality clause.
- Internal teams and quality reviewers also operate under NDAs and restricted access protocols.
- Breach of confidentiality results in disciplinary or contractual action – confidentiality is not optional; it’s contractual and enforced.
What certifications or audits does the provider hold?
Certifications and audits are a strong indicator of a mature, well-governed compliance framework.
Silent Sounds holds:
ISO 27001 (Information Security Management)
ISO 9001 (Quality Management)
ISO 18841:2018 (Interpreting Services)
SOC 2 Type II report (covering security, confidentiality, and availability controls)
TX-RAMP Level 2 certification (government security and risk management standard)
Together, these ensure that every layer of our operations – people, systems, and processes meets stringent privacy, security, and quality requirements.
Silent Sounds’ approach: privacy and innovation combined
At Silent Sounds, we combine rigorous data protection with the latest interpreting platform innovations to give you both safety and quality. Here’s how:
- Our InterpretManager platform performs quality review but only on encrypted, anonymised chunks of recordings. These chunks are useless in isolation for identifying individuals.
- All recordings are encrypted, with strict access control.
- Interpreter notes and metadata are anonymised.
- Retention schedules are clear: quality recordings are kept only for as long as needed, then securely deleted or fully de-identified.
- All interpreters and staff sign NDAs, adhere to professional codes; platform operators have tight controls.
- We comply fully with UK GDPR, and our procedures align with industry best practice and relevant certifications.
Risks of not having these protections
- Sensitive recordings might be misused, leaked, or misinterpreted.
- Legal or regulatory consequences (GDPR fines, court sanctions, loss of legal privilege).
- If recordings are unencrypted or stored improperly, a breach could expose identities.
- Without de-identification, metadata or long unbroken recordings can be revealing.
Related articles:
The risk of using free online translators
The future of interpretation services on-demand video
Real-time interpreting services with portable interpretcart
Will interpreters be replaced by AI?