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Video conferencing applications have gained one of the highest users and user activity during this blocking period. Applications like Zoom, despite having security problems, are widely used because users have no other choice. Now, a new report highlights that other video conferencing apps like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex also collect a fair amount of user data.
Consumer Reports found that these video conferences share a similar privacy policy, albeit with minor differences. In terms of data collection, these companies have access to information such as the duration of the meeting, the participants in the video call and their IP addresses as well. And with users who accept the privacy policies of these applications, they are basically granting permission.
User data collected during these video conferences can be used to create consumer profiles and also to train facial recognition systems, the report adds. More data such as audio can be accessed when users request a transcript of the meeting. In response to this, the companies said they record videos or audios only when the user presses the record button, and that none of these “is used directly for advertising.”
These companies responded to Consumer Reports saying that “privacy is a basic human right” and that they “never rent or sell” their customers’ information. These companies also did not contest the findings. But the details on what user data is collected and for what purpose have not been specified.
