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Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

businessinsider.com

231–240 of 302 posts

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#231
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised they're even allowed to use Zoom for a national cabinet meeting. Wouldn't the Gov have its own video chatting software that is self hosted?

In general (moreso focused on the EU than the Brits) I've never understood why the EU doesn't pump a billion a year, or a billion worth of dev hours a year into open source. That's an absolutely tiny, almost infitismal amount of EU budget (and even tinier for most member states their budget) and it would allow them to get out of the noose of closed source corporate support contracts and being beholden to foreign comp…

It's not billions, but the EU is funding some open source software. https://hexus.net/tech/news/software/125747-14-open-source-p...

I think France is also funding/developing Matrix.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only ever use Zoom on my phone - it frees up my laptop to be used during the call, and I refuse to install anything developed by that company on my laptop.

You can join Zoom meetings on your browser too. It's behind these twelve easy steps: 1. Go to zoom.com 2. Click "Join a meeting" 3. Enter meeting id and click Join 4. Ignore the automatic app download 5. Go back 6. Click "Join a meeting" again 7. Enter meeting id and click Join again 8. Ignore the app download again 9. Click at "If nothing prompts, click here" 10. Click "Join from your browser" 11. Agree to terms of…

What? That's crazy to hide such a useful feature!

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#233
post #169
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Number 10 has had Video Conferencing since 1998 (I set it up with college and received first call from there), was H320 via ISDN2 affair and had dedicated black box encryption unit GCHQ supplied and dealt with. DOH (Department of Health) also had dedicated VC rooms as did all the regional officers and MCU bridging for multi point conferencing was outsourced when needed. All main DOH sites could do upto 384 with bonde…

>Also fairly sure GCHQ probably bashing their heads on the table. Not nearly hard enough. Not even close to hard enough. They need help with that, possibly with heavy machinery.

I worked on a minor, non-secure, tangentially GHCQ-aligned project. They're the most risk averse organisation I've ever met. Like, pathologically risk averse. I'd bet a small mortgage they had no oversight of that call.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#234
post #223
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also fairly sure GCHQ probably bashing their heads on the table. Not nearly hard enough. Not even close to hard enough. They need help with that, possibly with heavy machinery.

There is absolutely now way GCHQ signed off on this.

And yet they are powerless. Back to recording private conversations like the Stasi then. What a wonderful institution. They're useful how, exactly?

Not smacking their heads into the table nearly hard enough. Not even close.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only ever use Zoom on my phone - it frees up my laptop to be used during the call, and I refuse to install anything developed by that company on my laptop.

You can join Zoom meetings on your browser too. It's behind these twelve easy steps: 1. Go to zoom.com 2. Click "Join a meeting" 3. Enter meeting id and click Join 4. Ignore the automatic app download 5. Go back 6. Click "Join a meeting" again 7. Enter meeting id and click Join again 8. Ignore the app download again 9. Click at "If nothing prompts, click here" 10. Click "Join from your browser" 11. Agree to terms of…

That's.... a thing of beauty. Honestly, it brings a tear to my eye.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#236
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised they're even allowed to use Zoom for a national cabinet meeting. Wouldn't the Gov have its own video chatting software that is self hosted?

In general (moreso focused on the EU than the Brits) I've never understood why the EU doesn't pump a billion a year, or a billion worth of dev hours a year into open source. That's an absolutely tiny, almost infitismal amount of EU budget (and even tinier for most member states their budget) and it would allow them to get out of the noose of closed source corporate support contracts and being beholden to foreign comp…

Whenever the government doles out money, the incentives are to do it in return for political favours. To counter that, various processes and institutions enforce checks and balances and accountability. In practice, that takes the form of grant applications, tendering, and the like. That then attracts a bunch of grifters who want to effectively steal the government's money, so the grant process get longer and more complex, and things get more bureaucratic with heavy-handed checks and balances.

If a government anointed any given handful of OS organizations as preferred benefactors of donations, I'd expect grifters to infiltrate those organizations and parasitically siphon off the funds one way or another.

Incentives matter. Government incentives are to be popular, or attract the support of other people who are popular or influential. Being efficient or effective is only a small part of that. I don't know that there's a good solution to the incentive problem.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#237
post #200
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Number 10 has had Video Conferencing since 1998 (I set it up with college and received first call from there), was H320 via ISDN2 affair and had dedicated black box encryption unit GCHQ supplied and dealt with. DOH (Department of Health) also had dedicated VC rooms as did all the regional officers and MCU bridging for multi point conferencing was outsourced when needed. All main DOH sites could do upto 384 with bonde…

I think video chatting with normal citizens would be quite difficult if you expect them to install VPN's and special video conference software that probably only works with gov.uk accounts. Grabbing a random laptop, connecting to the internet and using zoom sounds a lot easier.

The link shared by @verytrivial to Boris Johnson’s twitter account isn’t showing “normal citizens”, it is showing the executive branch of the UK, plus an account identified only as “iPhone” who has their camera and microphone switched off.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My therapist tried a whole bunch of different services with different clients. We first tried doxy.me which is a HIPAA approved tele-medical service. But the quality was HORRIBLE, it was unusable, so she asked me if I would be ok using Skype (since Skype is not encrypted) I said ok (since I need the session more than it being secure). It was fine. Then we tried Zoom next time around. I thought Zoom was better in term…

Why is it hard? Video streaming has been a thing for a couple decades. I am genuinely curious.

When you stream a Youtube or Netflix video, you can download several seconds ahead over boring old HTTP. It's a one-to-one link, you don't have to upload anything, and you don't need access the user's camera or microphone.

To be competitive in videoconferencing these days, you need:

* Low latency, so people don't talk over each other

* Video and audio compression that doesn't get confused by dropped packets.

* Setup so easy first-time users won't be late to their video job interview.

* Group calls for 10+ people

* HD quality

* Adaptive bitrates, for users on different speed links

* Skip-free audio even if a user's link goes from uncongested to heavily congested.

* Reliable support for every webcam and USB headset on the market, and hot-plugging them during the call, and changing OS permissions during the call.

* Reliable support for unreliable bluetooth headsets and unreliable bluetooth dongles.

* Echo cancellation that works with every device and room configuration going. Including devices that have their own built-in echo cancellation.

* Audio that's clear even in the presence of background noise, and different people at different distances from the microphone.

* Users behind every type of misconfigured firewall you can imagine.

* Roaming between different Wifi access points, and between wifi and cell data while on a call (including links with no connectivity sometimes)

* Never (or almost never) forcing a user to update their software at the moment they're trying to join an important meeting or job interview.

* Update support (or long-term compatibility) for users who don't have administrator rights.

* Graceful recovery if the user sleeps then resumes their device.

* Screen sharing that retains good readability, even if a user has unwisely made the text on their presentation a bit small.

* Screen sharing of Youtube videos without making them blurry or choppy, even if they're embedded in presentations.

* CPU and battery efficiency.

* Free of charge

* All the above on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux and WebRTC.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it though?

https://zoom.us/healthcare > HIPAA/PIPEDA plans start at $$200 per month per account, which comes with 10 hosts.

Zoom claiming it's compliant has nothing to do with it actually being compliant.

Re: Trolls break into meetings on Zoom

#240

4 chan exist like 20 years or something. Does anyone ever thought about a legal way to shut it down and lock up couple of admins? I'm sure their stupid troll raids cost billions since it started.

Yes, and don't forget to shutdown Discord too! They will never be able to use another tool to organize these raids, this is genius. (this is sarcasm, of course)
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