Microsoft Teams users have to consent to being transcribed and recorded but won't be able to download the meeting transcripts

We recently reported that Microsoft is updating Teams to require users to give their explicit consent to being transcribed and recorded during Teams meetings; failing to do so means users won’t be able to speak, show themselves, or share content in meetings.

The new policy will be released at the end of this month, and it is rolling out gradually until July when it’s expected to be fully integrated within the platform.

However, according to a new entry in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, in May 2024, the Redmond-based tech giant will also update the policy to support a new policy that gives IT admins the power to restrict permission for downloading meeting transcripts to users.

In other words, depending on the situation, Teams users won’t be able to own the meeting transcripts they agreed to.

The policy comes with a string of unique situations that empower admins to the tiniest detail: in one instance, only transcript owners can download these documents, and in other situations, the owner can also designate other people to be able to download them.

Even more, this Microsoft Teams policy also extends the download of meeting transcripts within the Stream platform, and it works the same there, as well. The owner decides who can download the documents.

Introducing a new control for IT administrators to restrict permissions for the download of meeting transcript files (stored in OneDrive for Business) for any users within the tenant. This policy applies to new meeting transcripts across the entire organization. Administrators can exempt people who are members of specified security groups from the policy. This allows admins to specify governance or compliance specialists who should have download access to meeting transcripts. We are also updating the default permissions so that even when the policy is not applied only transcript owners (recording initiator or meeting organizer) will have permission to download or delete the transcript file, while meeting participants can only view the transcript in Teams app or Stream. In addition to the tenant-wide policy for download permission, the meeting organizer will be able to select in Stream which participants are restricted from downloading, viewing, and editing the transcript in Stream.

Microsoft

Microsoft Teams users not being able to download transcripts documents has its ups and downs: the ups are tied to the overall privacy and security of the organization; the down are, of course, tied to the employees’ rights. If an employee wants to sue a certain organization, for instance, the trascripted documents might help their case.

So, ultimately, the adjacent policy is in the benefit of the organization, as it could seek to avoid employees’ legal ameneties, in case it ever gets there.