  Privacy preservation and the protection of speech data is in high demand, not
least as a result of recent regulation, e.g. the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) in the EU. While there has been a period with which to
prepare for its implementation, its implications for speech data is poorly
understood. This assertion applies to both the legal and technology
communities, and is hardly surprising since there is no universal definition of
'privacy', let alone a clear understanding of when or how the GDPR applies to
the capture, storage and processing of speech data. In aiming to initiate the
discussion that is needed to establish a level of harmonisation that is thus
far lacking, this contribution presents some reflections of both legal and
technology communities on the implications of the GDPR as regards speech data.
The article outlines the need for taxonomies at the intersection of speech
technology and data privacy - a discussion that is still very much in its
infancy - and describes the ways to safeguards and priorities for future
research. In being agnostic to any specific application, the treatment should
be of interest to the speech communication community at large.
