So, we’re in the middle of a health epidemic unprecedented in modern times and we’re all struggling to quickly pivot to alternative arrangements to enable business to continue as normal.

One of the major platforms that people have been turning to is Zoom. Even the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has been pictured conducting a cabinet meeting by Zoom.

So, what’s the issue?

Well, how does this impact on your privacy?

As reported in the Australian Financial Review* yesterday:

“In the past year, Zoom has suffered from several critical security vulnerabilities, ranging from allowing hackers into private calls uninvited, to allowing Mac users to be forced into calls without their knowledge. While such vulnerabilities were patched, Zoom’s approach to these concerns has been rather blase. In the latter case especially, Zoom essentially refused to change fundamentally flawed security practices.”

Zoom’s privacy policy is similar to other large tech companies, however, it also allows Zoom to collect “customer content” or “the content contained in cloud recordings, and instant messages, files, whiteboards… shared while using the service.”

There is also a limited ability to opt out of some of the privacy issues with Zoom and continue to use its services.

Some ways around potential intrusions from Zoom are to have a separate email address you only use for Zoom (which isn’t linked to, for example, a social media account), clearing cookies and blocking trackers after calls and opting out of secondary data uses where possible.

So, should you stop using Zoom?

For some purposes, it might continue to be OK. But I would be hesitant to use it for some purposes.

As a legal example, nor that social distancing is in place, mediations can no longer really operate in person.

To get around that issue, some matters will have to be mediated by online meeting. I will be using a custom legal platform, Immediation, in such circumstances. It is also available for small companies and businesses direct and could prove useful over the coming months as disputes rise during the inevitable recession.

If you have any privacy concerns regarding the operation of your business while your employees operate remotely, please feel free to get in touch.

*https://www.afr.com/technology/zoom-is-the-next-privacy-challenge-20200324-p54dff