Technology
Later this year Zoom promises its first transparency report.
Zoom is committed to sharing his first transparency report on the progress of its 90 day freeze to address privacy and security issues on the CEO Eric Yuan blog later this year. After Zoom was used dramatically during the COVID-19 pandeme, which revealed numerous privacy and security vulnerabilities in video conferences software, the freeze announced on 1 April was implemented.
We have made substantial progress in defining the transparency report's framework and approach to detailing information on Zoom requests for data, records or content, said Yuan today in the blog. In our first report, we look forward to reporting fiscal Q2 data later this year.
A Zoom spokesman refused to comment on the scheduled release date when they asked for further details.
Yuan also mentioned in his blog the recent guide on how the company responds to government requests for zoom information, the types of data Zoom collects, data retention practices of the company, and more. According to Yuan, Zoom has also updated its privacy policy, mostly to help them understand" and created a separate section for California Privacy Rights under those policies.
Zoom has examined how data requests have been handled in the past. Recently, after Zoom had been informed by the Government of China , the company suspended one account in Hong Kong and two in the US for hosting meetings to commemorate the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Zoom later restored its accounts and said it was developing technology that would allow the company to remove or block individual geographically-based participants. This technology, if available, could allow Zoom to block the participation of participants from mainland China in the meetings rather than to shut the whole meeting down.
The Access Now Advocacy Group wrote an open letter calling on Zoom to publish a transparency report on 19 March but today the company's decision to publish the report later this year was criticized.
'Although the Zoom's decision to delay the transparency report indicates that it does not give priority to reporting over the last 90 days to update certain of its security and privacy practices,' says Isedua Oribhabor, a U.S. Access Now policy analyst in a declaration to The Verge.
The Chinese government 's pressure on Zoom to limit accounts underlines why a transparency report is crucial-without it, users have no idea how government infringements on their accounts and data or how Zoom takes steps backwards.
The Yuan Blog covered many further steps taken by the company since the introduction of the 90% freezer feature, including the commitment to provide end-to - end encryption for all users, to activate password meetings by default, to enable users to choose which data center calls are routed, to consult with Alex Stamos and other security experts, to strengthen its bug bounty programme, to start the CISO councillorship. We have established mechanisms in each phase of our product development to ensure that safety and privacy remain a priority, Yuan said.
