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Zoom still don't understand GDPR

threatspike.com

51–60 of 267 posts

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#52
post #11

C'mon, what does it take for Zoom to understand that when people uninstall software they don't want parts of it to stick around forever?

Usually this happens because the person who wrote the file or daemon didn't write the uninstaller and no one gives a hoot about it at review. Never assume malice that which can be explained by a poor engineering culture

Always assume that the malicious outcome is the intended outcome. Somewhere at zoom a tech lead looked at the features planned, saw 'uninstaller' and deprioritized it to P4. That was the malice, even though they did not cacke and wore a top hat with a monocle while doing it.

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#53

I argue Zoom does understand GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive from a legal perspective. The specific citation about the length of a cookie is a recommendation and not a law[0]. The key word is 'should'. I'm not a lawyer nor claim the ability to interpret GDPR legally, but I have seen companies that actively worked to edge case GDPR to their advantage (I was part of one). We would have lawyers and other 'GDPR experts'…

The website gdpr.eu is not official. It's just a website made by some people. The length of the cookie, as far as I can tell, is not even a recommendation in the law. It's just a thing someone said on the Internet.

The ePrivacy Directive requires strict consent (as defined in GDPR) in order to read or write data from a user's computer, including cookies, except were strictly necessary to provision the service. There's potentially wiggle room for throttling, which is in the name of one of the cookies. I have doubts about a cookie tracking whether you've ever logged in.

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#55
post #48

I love how when you go to enter a Zoom meeting, they bury the no-install, run-in-browser link in small type in a footer. And then, if you manage to see the link and use the browser, they withhold "Gallery View", forcing you to deal with the extremely annoying "Active Speaker View".

> And then, if you manage to see the link and use the browser, they withhold "Gallery View", forcing you to deal with the extremely annoying "Active Speaker View". Is this a browser limitation or something? I think microsoft teams has the same issue.

I don't think so, Google Meet has gallery view and that's browser only.

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#56
post #54

Are you trying to say that a Chinese app doesn't care about your privacy? That's new

Zoom is an american company by the way. Its headquarters is in silicon valley. Its founder, chairman, and CEO is an american citizen. It has employees in California and China, like nearly all tech companies.

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#57

I love how when you go to enter a Zoom meeting, they bury the no-install, run-in-browser link in small type in a footer. And then, if you manage to see the link and use the browser, they withhold "Gallery View", forcing you to deal with the extremely annoying "Active Speaker View".

The web version also won't allow the host to request control from what I can tell. I use it daily for remote support because new webex sucks and no one knows what jitsi is.

Chicken-and-egg etc. People will know what Jitsi is when you use it with them. It's so simple, why not have them use it? Why do they have to know it already?

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#58
post #27
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually this happens because the person who wrote the file or daemon didn't write the uninstaller and no one gives a hoot about it at review. Never assume malice that which can be explained by a poor engineering culture

Especially when you consider the software and design of Zoom, poor engineering culture sounds like the more realistic answer.

> "Poor engineering culture"

The software and service is currently running at a scale that the vast majority of visitors to HN can barely dream of achieving.

But yeah, they prioritized ease of install for the client of their software over other considerations, so that must mean they have a "poor engineering culture", whatever that's supposed to mean.

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#59

I love how when you go to enter a Zoom meeting, they bury the no-install, run-in-browser link in small type in a footer. And then, if you manage to see the link and use the browser, they withhold "Gallery View", forcing you to deal with the extremely annoying "Active Speaker View".

> they bury the no-install, run-in-browser link I wrote a browser extension that will transparently redirect all zoom links to user their web client: https://github.com/arkadiyt/zoom-redirector

love this extension. we recommend it for everyone at work as the zoom client is banned.

Re: Zoom still don't understand GDPR

#60
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth mentioning that the uninstaller sets the cookie by adapting your cookies file after reading contents of the file entirely unrelated to Zoom.

> after reading contents of the file In the same way I'm reading your mail if I look at it to see whether it's my mail, and then put it back down when I see your name. That is to say, not at all.

A better analogy would be that when uninstalling Zoom it looks through all of your emails to find its email. It has no business being there in the first place.
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