However, unlike the end-to-end encryption offered by messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, Otter’s algorithm decrypts data in order to access the audio.

yes their algorithm “decrypted” it by getting you to upload unencrypted data to them 🤦

For that reason, the privacy policy cautions that subscribers get informed consent from anyone who they record using the app.

The reporter doesn’t say if they’ve ever done that in the past (presumably not) or if they plan to in the future.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation report recommends that users protect the integrity of data that they commit to transcription app cloud servers with strong passwords and choosing providers that offer two-factor authentication. And it advises users to download and then delete their audio transcripts — cutting and pasting it to another platform such as Word or Google docs — to remove them from company servers to reduce exposure risk.

The FPF should be ashamed of itself. They should be telling reporters that if they wouldn’t be comfortable emailing something to the FBI directly, they shouldn’t upload it to Google or any of these transcription services.

Hopefully in the near future there will be easy-to-use free software offline transcription tools, so you won’t need to rely on a 3rd party keeping their promises. Here is what I think is currently the state-of-the-art in free software speech-to-text (coqui.ai).