Zoom to Pay $85 Million to Users for Misleading Encryption Claims

[MacRumors]

As part of a class action lawsuit settlement, Zoom says it will pay $85 million to users for misleading them about offering end-to-end encryption on its videoconferencing service.

According to ArsTechnica, the company was accused of lying about its encryption description on its website and in a security white paper, as well as providing user data to Facebook and Google without users' permission.

Filed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the proposed settlement will give Zoom users around $15 or $25 each, depending on whether they had a free or paid subscription between March 30, 2016 and July 30, 2021. Assuming the settlement is approved by the court, the payments will apply to Zoom users nationwide.

In addition to payments, Zoom agreed to over a dozen major changes to its practices, "designed to improve meeting security, bolster privacy disclosures, and safeguard consumer data," according to the settlement. A hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary approval of the settlement is scheduled for October 21, 2021.

In April 2020, Zoom faced accusations of misleading encryption claims after an investigation by The Intercept revealed that Zoom was securing video calls using TLS encryption, the same technology that web servers use to secure HTTPS websites.

TLS encryption is different to end-to-end encryption, a term that refers to a way of protecting user content so that the company has no access to it whatsoever.

For Zoom meetings to be truly end-to-end encrypted, calls would need to be encrypted in such a way that ensured only the participants in the meeting had the ability to decrypt them through the use of local encryption keys. But that level of security was not what the service offered at the time.

Update: A Zoom spokesperson provided MacRumors with the following statement:

The privacy and security of our users are top priorities for Zoom, and we take seriously the trust our users place in us. We are proud of the advancements we have made to our platform, and look forward to continuing to innovate with privacy and security at the forefront.

Article Link: Zoom to Pay $85 Million to Users for Misleading Encryption Claims

 

[JackieTreehorn]

I am user too.

Where do I sign up?

 

[MVMNT]

Great if you're in the US... the rest of us though, was this a global issue?

 

[I@beck]

I think the personal data is more valuable than $15 or $30 regardless you are free or paid subscription..

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Wow! They should pay more than $85 millions dollars. You can’t put a price on privacy. How did they get away with it this whole time? Sucks to be a victim of totally misleading, providing data to other companies. Total Fraud!

 

[NightFox]

Wow! They should pay more than $85 millions dollars. You can’t put a price on privacy. How did they get away with it this whole time? Sucks to be a victim of totally misleading, providing data to other companies. Total Fraud!

They didn't, it was exposed in April 2020... yet people still carried on regardless.

 

[Frustratedperson]

The world is just full of liars. They shouldn’t be forced to pay compensation, they should be forced to shut the service down, take the assets of the owners and the owners go to prison for a long time to send a message to all companies that if you blatantly lie, you go to prison and go bankrupt.

 

[InGen]

The exact reason I never used zoom for any communication whatsoever. It’s up to us, the consumer, to demand privacy and avoid using products that can’t assure us that our communications are end-to-end encrypted and not viewable to anyone outside it’s recipients.

Major players still guilty of not securing their services with encryption are Snapchat & Dating Apps. People are still largely unaware that Snapchat, Tinder, Bumble, can read and see everything you communicate to others, every conversation you have every photo you snap, all of it.

How this data is being mined and analysed by these companies is uncertain. With dating apps for example, the amount of value and revelation that could be mined from the exchanges between millions of males and females on this type of application is invaluable and of great power.

Imagine the trends and psychological insights companies like Tinder & Bumble are discovering about humans by not encrypting their users exchanges and (even if anonymously) gathering information on trends of attraction, social success, appeal, social investment, response. We have no idea how they are using the results of these discoveries, and I don’t think it’s just selling it to fashion companies to design new bags that women are more likely to purchase, or care products or clothing for men that correlate with higher success rates or matches.

As I said this data is invaluable, and there may be more sinister uses of this information in the fields of mass-psychology and manipulation that could be utilised on larger scales and by more significant institutions.

It’s up to us to consistently demand that all forums of communications between humans, at the very least with small private exchanges, incorporate e2e encryption as a standard and a requirement. Lest we give away much more than the content of our conversations to groups very likely to use it for their personal gain and control.

 

[johannnn]

I'm normally very against most class actions and EU fines. But this made me not wanting to use Zoom, ever, again.

"the company was accused of lying about its encryption description on its website and in a security white paper, as well as providing user data to Facebook and Google without users' permission."

 

[amaze1499]

Whom will they have to pay? 🤔

 

[TakeshimaIslands]

A chinese owned company not being honest with the consumer and installing phone-home backdoors into their hardware/software?

*surprised Pikachu*

 

[The_Gream]

For some people reason, I feel like this issue was reported back at the start of the pandemic. Yet, people/business continued to use it like crazy.
Glad I have never used it.

 

[kskkr]

$15 for your privacy, what a bargain!

 

[MrCrowbar]

At the beginning of the pandemic, employer wanted us to use Zoom. The next day there was a lot back-pedalling because of feedback going like "eeerrem Zoom is kind of a security nono". Using MS Teams since.

 

[Atlantico]

I've never used Zoom and I never will. It's bottom tier compared to everything. It's literal boomer technology.

Facetime, Skype, Whatsapp, Telegram, EMAIL, shouting really loud, anything is better than Zoom.

 

[alexe]

Zoom has always been a mess security-wise, and it pains me that this company got so big amidst so many better alternatives for video calling.

 

[mariusignorello]

The world is just full of liars. They shouldn’t be forced to pay compensation, they should be forced to shut the service down, take the assets of the owners and the owners go to prison for a long time to send a message to all companies that if you blatantly lie, you go to prison and go bankrupt.

Absolutely agree. This will not be the last time this happens. One of my banker friends said there’s a good reason why Zoom isn’t used in the sensitive areas of the financial industry.

 

[mariusignorello]

The exact reason I never used zoom for any communication whatsoever. It’s up to us, the consumer, to demand privacy and avoid using products that can’t assure us that our communications are end-to-end encrypted and not viewable to anyone outside it’s recipients.

Major players still guilty of not securing their services with encryption are Snapchat & Dating Apps. People are still largely unaware that Snapchat, Tinder, Bumble, can read and see everything you communicate to others, every conversation you have every photo you snap, all of it.

How this data is being mined and analysed by these companies is uncertain. With dating apps for example, the amount of value and revelation that could be mined from the exchanges between millions of males and females on this type of application is invaluable and of great power.

Imagine the trends and psychological insights companies like Tinder & Bumble are discovering about humans by not encrypting their users exchanges and (even anonymously) gathering information on trends of attraction, social success, appeal, social investment, response. We have no idea how they are using the results of these discoveries, and I don’t think it’s just selling it to fashion companies to design new bags that women are more likely to purchase, or care products or clothing for men that correlate with higher success rates or matches.

As I said this data is invaluable, and there may be more sinister uses of this information in the fields of mass-psychology and manipulation that could be utilised on larger scales and by more significant institutions.

It’s up to us to consistently demand that all forums of communications between humans, at least with small private exchanges, incorporate e2e encryption as a standard and a requirement. Lest we give away much more than the content of our conversations to groups very likely to use it for their personal gain and control.

It’s true though. Data isn’t just used to push product, it’s used to manipulate people. I don’t want to get too political but it’s definitely used to influence public opinion, equally left and right of the spectrum.

It has been and definitely continues to be used throughout this pandemic as well. Most of this is psychological/emotional manipulation whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Facts and science only do so much to convince, emotional manipulation carries the rest of the weight.

 

[laptech]

I never heard of Zoom until the pandemic hit and then it was 'Zoom this' and 'Zoom that' with regards to employers and employees and their working from home situation. I have no doubt Zoom has made it's money during the pandemic and once everything is back to normal, Zoom will fade back in to the background and be forgotten about.

 

[incoherent_1]

PSA: They just happened to get caught. Consider how many other companies "claim" end-to-end encryption, but don't exactly implement it well in practice. WhatsApp, I'm looking at you.

 

[NightFox]

I've never used Zoom and I never will. It's bottom tier compared to everything. It's literal boomer technology.

Facetime, Skype, Whatsapp, Telegram, EMAIL, shouting really loud, anything is better than Zoom.

But none of those will work if the person/people you need to communicate with want to do so over Zoom, especially in a work environment.

 

[69Mustang]

The exact reason I never used zoom for any communication whatsoever. It’s up to us, the consumer, to demand privacy and avoid using products that can’t assure us that our communications are end-to-end encrypted and not viewable to anyone outside it’s recipients.

Major players still guilty of not securing their services with encryption are Snapchat & Dating Apps. People are still largely unaware that Snapchat, Tinder, Bumble, can read and see everything you communicate to others, every conversation you have every photo you snap, all of it.

How this data is being mined and analysed by these companies is uncertain. With dating apps for example, the amount of value and revelation that could be mined from the exchanges between millions of males and females on this type of application is invaluable and of great power.

Imagine the trends and psychological insights companies like Tinder & Bumble are discovering about humans by not encrypting their users exchanges and (even anonymously) gathering information on trends of attraction, social success, appeal, social investment, response. We have no idea how they are using the results of these discoveries, and I don’t think it’s just selling it to fashion companies to design new bags that women are more likely to purchase, or care products or clothing for men that correlate with higher success rates or matches.

As I said this data is invaluable, and there may be more sinister uses of this information in the fields of mass-psychology and manipulation that could be utilised on larger scales and by more significant institutions.

It’s up to us to consistently demand that all forums of communications between humans, at least with small private exchanges, incorporate e2e encryption as a standard and a requirement. Lest we give away much more than the content of our conversations to groups very likely to use it for their personal gain and control.

Nice sentiment. Too bad it amounts to little more than words. Society has proven time and again, generally speaking, they don't care about privacy... beyond cursory lip service. Privacy minded individuals on tech forums are a miniscule population. The social apps you mentioned along with many others are a haven for people who are falling over themselves to divulge every detail of their lives. It's why the social media sites are growing (not shrinking). It's not that people are unaware, it's that they generally don't care.
I'm not judging either way. I attempt to reduce the digital snooping as much as possible in my own little microcosm while fully understanding that most people don't really care about it. Heck even those who do care about it seem to only care about the "Apple marketed privacy" instead of the actual potentially harmful violations of privacy that occur daily.

All the potential scary things you mentioned about data usage have been occurring for hundreds of years, well before the digital age. You don't have to guess what's being done with data, there's copious amounts of, well, data available about how information analytics has been used to shape society. For good and bad.

 

[DesertNomad]

So how do they pay people if all they have is an email address - and maybe not even that?

 

[jayducharme]

I suspect there are way more than 85 million Zoom users. So those users will probably receive pennies, if anything.

 

[I7guy]

I never heard of Zoom until the pandemic hit and then it was 'Zoom this' and 'Zoom that' with regards to employers and employees and their working from home situation. I have no doubt Zoom has made it's money during the pandemic and once everything is back to normal, Zoom will fade back in to the background and be forgotten about.

Nope…they have arrived. $85 million to them now is like a billion to apple…chump change.