Zoom and Privacy

[Deskman]

A few months ago I downloaded Zoom from my uni onto my personal computer. Now, I'd like to use the program to connect with some friends and relatives. Is it advisable to download a second, personal copy of Zoom for such conversations? I want to make sure that info on my personal contacts and my personal conversations remain completely private and unaccessible by anyone else. In conjunction, I am wondering: does Zoom keep a log of my meetings?

[nonsensical]

I have a Zoom account through my university. When I log in, I see the titles of my past and upcoming meetings. I'm not sure whether any admin at my institution can also see those titles, though it wouldn't surprise me if they could. I usually title my meetings with the names of the people I am meeting, but you could be more circumspect and just title them something like Meeting 1, Meeting 2, etc. I think some people also set up one meeting that lasts indefinitely and give that link to everyone with whom they meet, so you could just title that "Meeting" and use it for everyone.

Zoom can record meetings, but it doesn't have to. I would look through the settings to see if it is set to record by default, or to allow you to click a box to record, or to prohibit recording altogether. I think these are all possibilities, you just have to click the one you want (at least with the way Zoom is set up at my university). You can also select certain settings to allow or prohibit other people to record the meetings for which you are the host.

If a meeting is recorded, you can choose to save it to your local computer or to the cloud. There have been some security breaches where unauthorized people got access to recorded meetings that were saved in the cloud, although I think Zoom has added some things to fix people's ability to make these kinds of breaches. But, if you are concerned about privacy, I would just select the options that don't allow either you or anyone else in the meeting to record. (You can also tell if a meeting is being recorded; you will see an indication in the upper left hand corner of the screen that says "recording.")

I haven't tried using two different Zoom accounts, so I can't speak to how that would work. If you wanted to stick with one account, my sense is that selecting options to prohibit recordings and using meeting titles with no personal information -- or perhaps setting up one meeting that goes on indefinitely and using that same link for all of your conversations -- would give you the things that you are looking for. It might be possible for admin to see that you had a meeting and when it started and ended, so if that is too much for you, maybe a second account might help? But it is my sense that if you take some of the steps I've suggested here, others won't have access to the content of the meeting.

[mamselle]

If you want to use different accounts, you will probably want to use a different browser for each one.

My Firefox browser, for example, takes even Zoom meetings I'm invited to from other accounts, and logs me in under the work account I use on that browser (which has saved the password for that account).

If I want to do a random (free) Zoom meeting not using that account, I have to open it in, say, Chrome, (and never use Chrome for the work account, or save its password in Chrome) to keep it from interfereing/interposing itself into the random meeting (which will only last the 40 min. a free meeting lasts in Zoom).

If you buy a different, private account, same thing, I suspect, although I haven't done that so I can't say for certain.

Those caveats might help with the privacy issues.

M.

[Hibush]

If you run Zoom as an application, you can choose "Change Account" under the zoom menu. That lets you keep personal and business meetings separate while having one version of the software on your computer.

[mamselle]

Aha!

Where is that?

(Zoom is horrible about putting things in places where you'd think to look for them, I find..)

M.

[Deskman]

I only have the one university account. I'd like to use Zoom for a group chat among friends or family members, so privacy remains a concern. If I set up a free personal Zoom account, will I be able to chat with more than one person at a time?

[ciao_yall]

I only have the one university account. I'd like to use Zoom for a group chat among friends or family members, so privacy remains a concern. If I set up a free personal Zoom account, will I be able to chat with more than one person at a time?

Yes, but the free account limits Zoom calls to 40 minutes. We were using a friend's free account and just got used to logging out and logging back in every 40 minutes.

[jerseyjay]

I have Zoom installed on my phone and computer, and have used it for class (although I am not really a big fan), committee meetings, and academic talks elsewhere. My 5-year-old daughter has also used it for her ballet class, her yoga class, and her check-ins with her day care. Thus the name on the screen does not always match the person on the screen.

But it also has created various problems since I cannot always remember what email address/account each meeting is supposed to be in, and I've had trouble logging into some meetings.

I am looking forward to a time without Zoom.