Fresh Questions Emerge Over Zoom’s Privacy Policy

Fresh Questions Emerge Over Zoom’s Privacy Policy

One of the shining lights in the working from home abyss has been video conferencing  app Zoom.

The technology has proven popular among the millions of workers who now find themselves communicating with colleagues through webcams and microphones.

Not only is it easy to use and scalable for teams, Zoom also enables fun personalisations such as custom backgrounds and beauty filters.

But it turns out Zoom might not be the WFH nirvana it’s cracked up to be.

A close look at the company’s privacy policy raises some questions over how the service manages user data.

The app collects both recordings and transcripts of conversations if a meeting attendee has requested so, as well as other potentially sensitive data such as location, information about your job and payment information.

The sudden spike in users on the app has prompted the New York Attorney General’s office to send Zoom a letter asking what new privacy measures the company has put in place since the uptake.

The office is “concerned that Zoom’s existing security practices might not be sufficient to adapt to the recent and sudden surge in both the volume and sensitivity of data being passed through its network”, according to the letter.

It comes after Motherboard published an article last week revealing that the iOS version of the Zoom app was sending some analytics data to Facebook.

Zoom has since released a statement confirming it had discontinued this practice.

“Zoom has implemented safeguards to protect our users’ privacy, which includes robust and validated controls to prevent unauthorized access to any content that users share during meetings, including – but not limited to – the video, audio, and chat content of those meetings,” the company said in an updated privacy policy.

The company also emphasised that while it uses third-party advertising on its marketing sites, call data is not monetised.

“No data regarding user activity on the Zoom platform – including video, audio, and chat content – is ever provided to third parties for advertising purposes,” Zoom said.

 




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