Crime

Zoom shares your information with Facebook, lawsuit says

In the coronavirus pandemic, one app reigns supreme: Zoom, the video-conferencing app that allows you to easily add individuals or groups for informal chats or business meetings. Many teachers are using it to keep classes going for schools and universities closed by COVID-19. On Monday, a Zoom user filed a class action lawsuit against Zoom,…

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Published on April 23, 2020

On Monday, a Zoom user filed a class action lawsuit against Zoom, for sending user data to Facebook.

The legal action follows reporting by VICE’s Motherboard which analyzed the Zoom iOS app, and found it sent analytic data to Facebook once opened.

Here’s the lawsuit. It was first reported today by Bloomberg News, which has a paywall.

The lawsuit argues that Zoom violated California’s new data protection law by not obtaining proper consent from users about the transfer of the data, reports Motherboard’s Joseph Cox, whose previous investigation kicked off all the legal action this week.

Meme, creator unknown, March 2020

Excerpt:

“Defendant knew or should have known that the Zoom App security practices were inadequate to safeguard the Class members’ personal information and that the risk of unauthorized disclosure to at least Facebook was highly likely. Defendant failed to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information to protect the personal information of Plaintiff and the Class members,” the lawsuit, which was first reported by Bloomberg, reads.

By analyzing the network traffic of the Zoom iOS app, Motherboard found that when opened, the app sent information about the the user’s device such as the model, the city and timezone they are connecting from, which phone carrier they are using, and a unique advertiser identifier created by the user’s device.

Days after Motherboard informed Zoom of the data transfer, the company issued a statement confirming the analysis. Zoom also pushed an update to the app to remove the code which sent the data.

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