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Zoom monitors activity on your computer

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Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#71

Post by ilikepi »

discreditable wrote: post #37

When someone sends you a zoom invite, cancel the download, then click the having problems link to download again. Cancel it again. It will show you a link to join by browser. A few other meeting apps have dark patterns like this. One of my favorite things about Hangouts Meet is it's web first.

I tested "Join by Browser" recently. On macOS (Mojave), it only seemed to work in Chrome, and the video resolution of the other person was poor, but it did work. Also, I did not need to click a "Having problems" link before the "Join by browser" link to appear, so maybe this feature is being deployed more widely now.

Since you mentioned Google Meet, I recently tried that with a group of 6-7 people, and it only lasted about 10 minutes before multiple participants (myself included) started having issues. It seems like it needs more time to bake, but since we're talking about Google, it's probably unlikely to ever receive that time before they kill it and reinvent it a year later.

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#72

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

this isn't the first time zoom got caught red-handed[1]. Last year they were called out for installing a local web server in order to disable security controls to get around the deprecated NPAPI[2] ... this is literally what malware does.

About the same time this story broke I interviewed for a Paris based AppSec company and their CTO asked me to install Zoom. It was really awkward because I had to ask: "Is this a trick question??"

Seriously I wouldn't touch Zoom with a 20 foot stick!

[1] https://medium.com/bugbountywriteup/zoom-zero-day-4-million-...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPAPI

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#73

Post by aquadrop »

neonate wrote: post #14
aquadrop wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These don't look that bad, but what's describe in a tweet (tracking focus app etc) is much worse, it doesn't seem to be in the privacy policy though (or they masked it?). So where's the information about focused window come from?

Your name, physical address, email address, phone number, employment, credit card, Facebook profile, IP address, MAC address, device ID...is not that bad?

These are technical details for normally working with the app. They charge you, so they need you name and credit card. You ask for a support, so they need your ip etc. They list what they may gather, because privacy policy should cover everything, doesn't mean they require all that info at once. I also didn't provide them many of these items.

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#74

Post by manigandham »

ganstyles wrote: post #62
jkdrki9 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do though. Apply our agency to providing free software solutions that don’t that. I suppose it’s easier to be a nihilist and complain though.

Let me tell work that I can't collaborate remotely anymore on video because I am using my agency to refuse to use Zoom even though everyone else at the whole company does. Then they can use their agency to put me on a PIP because my choice hindered my ability to do my job. I'm sure you realize it's not as easy as you say, but I suppose it's easier to assert that situations don't have nuance because then you can make…

Are you ok with all the other software they use?

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#75

Post by manigandham »

gsich wrote: post #59
manigandham wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That data is either required to run or provided to them by you directly.

MAC address? Unless they have some Layer2 detection shit running they don't need that. And besides, they wouldn't need it on their servers.

They have to name every possible thing they can potentially receive. Mac addresses are available as part of networking details if you're using their desktop software. Zoom is enterprise video conferencing that only recently gained attention for average consumers.

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#76

Post by [deleted] »

blakesterz wrote: post #13
threatofrain wrote: post #2

From https://zoom.us/privacy : > Whether you have Zoom account or not, we may collect Personal Data from or about you when you use or otherwise interact with our Products. We may gather the following categories of Personal Data about you: > - Information commonly used to identify you, such as your name, user name, physical address, email address, phone numbers, and other similar identifiers > - Information about your…

This is the part that is not so reassuring: Does Zoom sell Personal Data? No part of that paragraph makes me feel better, and it ends with this... " If you opt out of “sale” of your info, your Personal Data that may have been used for these activities will no longer be shared with third parties."

[deleted]

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#77

Post by gentleman11 »

Mathnerd314 wrote: post #17

EFF seems to be the source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/what-you-should-know-a... > If attendees of a meeting do not have the Zoom video window in focus during a call where the host is screen-sharing, after 30 seconds the host can see indicators next to each participant’s name indicating that the Zoom window is not active. It doesn't seem too invasive, although of course it'd still be annoying if you have t…

Is it only tracking whether the zoom window is focused (as in, a Boolean)? Is there evidence of more?

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#79

Post by thinkingemote »

digitalboss wrote: post #20

via Zoom Support Reply: https://twitter.com/zoom_us/status/1241768006327336963 "Hi, attention tracking feature is off by default - once enabled, hosts can tell if participants have the App open and active when the screen-sharing feature is in use. It does not track any aspects of your audio/video or other applications on your window." Points to this article: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000538083-Atte…

is the feature to be enabled by the host? Or by each individual participant?

Re: Zoom monitors activity on your computer

#80

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

lghh wrote: post #3

Downside of what may be a societal long term shift to work from home is even LESS privacy. I find that ironic, but not surprising.

If Zoom would be a Chinese company they'd immediately be branded threat-actor! A company that bypasses security controls on the host[1] has no place in a corporate network, covid19 crisis or not.

[1] see news from ca July 2019

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