Zerify Inc., the 22-year-old cybersecurity company focused on Secure Video Conferencing announced today that Zoom has updated their terms of service for its video conferencing platform and those changes have sparked a growing concern among users, privacy advocates, and industry experts and these revisions could open the floodgates of new business heading in our direction.
“On August 7th 2023 Zoom made changes to its terms of service in sections 10.2 and 10.4 which allow broad-reaching implications on how they utilize data. Specifically, Zoom’s rights to compile and utilize “Service Generated Data.” This includes telemetry data, product usage data, diagnostic data, and similar content or data that Zoom collects in connection with users. Essentially, Zoom would have the rights to modify, distribute, process, share, maintain, and store such data “for any purpose, to the extent and in the manner permitted under applicable law”, says Mark L. Kay, CEO of Zerify.
“Additionally, users should be alarmed at the explicit mention of Zoom’s right to use this data for machine learning and artificial intelligence, including training and tuning algorithms and models. This allows Zoom to train its AI on customer content without providing an opt-out option. Also, under section 10.4 of the updated TOSs, Zoom has secured a “perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license” to redistribute, publish, access, use, store, transmit, review, disclose, preserve, extract, modify, reproduce, share, use, display, copy, distribute, translate, transcribe, create derivative works, and process Customer Content.
“In a world where data privacy is paramount, Zerify, a trailblazing leader in the video conferencing industry, is proud to reassure its users that their sensitive information remains secure and protected. Unlike recent changes to Zoom’s terms of service, Zerify Meet users can rest assured that their data is treated with the utmost respect and transparency, says Kay. We believe that data privacy is a fundamental right, and our commitment to safeguarding user information is unwavering. Our users are not merely data points; they are valued individuals who deserve the utmost respect and control over their own data, says Kay.”
“In addition to knowing that your user data is safe, Zerify Meet users should also be happy knowing that Zerify Meet is now considered the gold standard for Video Conferencing Security,” says Kay, “it’s the only Video Conferencing Platform on the market that authenticates every participant with two-factor authentication prior to joining a meeting. The platform also encrypts all video and audio calls, ensuring that all conversations and data are secure and protected from potential cyber threats. That’s why both the Forrester Group and Aite-Novarica Group listed Zerify Meet as the industry’s leading Secure Collaboration platform,” says Kay.