And, the quality of Zoom calls is generally better than that of Skype or Hangouts if you’re a regular user of either of these services, you know how annoying they can be.īut recently many privacy and security issues with Zoom have come to light, and it’s also difficult for users to know how to configure the service to make their meetings safe. (Though in my experience, it’s not always possible to join meetings in a browser.) For ease of use, especially among non-tech savvy users, Zoom clearly wins. Participants can either download the Zoom app to join the meeting, or do so in their web browser. With Zoom, one person creates an account, sets up a meeting, then sends a link to others. FaceTime only works with Apple devices, and, as with Skype, you need to manually add each person to a call or meeting by adding them from your contacts, or, if they’re not in your contacts, by entering their Apple ID email address or phone number. To use Skype, you need to set up an account, and you need to know the user names for each person you want to invite on a call. Zoom has one advantage: users don’t need to create accounts to use it.

And there are plenty of other apps and services you can use for both audio and video conferences, such as GoToMeeting, RingCentral, and WebEx, just to name a few. Google has its Hangouts-or is it Google Meet? or Google Hangouts Meet?-this service has been rebranded so many times it’s hard to keep track. In 2020, the idea of Internet-based video meetings is by no means revolutionary Skype, now owned by Microsoft, has been around since 2003. You can get apps for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, extensions for web browsers, an even add-in for Microsoft Outlook. Zoom is an audio- and video-conferencing tool that is available on multiple platforms. In this article, I’ll look at the many issues plaguing Zoom, so you can decide if you want to host or participate in calls using the service, and what precautions you can take. Yet Zoom has recently been found to have had numerous security and privacy issues, and this platform is now seen as a risk by many governments and companies.

There are a number of such tools, but one, Zoom, has suddenly become the go-to app for hundreds of millions of people.

With much of the world in lockdown, and many people working from home, video-conferencing tools have become essential to hold meetings, and to chat with family. Security & Privacy Is Zoom videoconferencing safe to use?

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