Zoom
Proprietary cross-platform videoconferencing softwareZoom is a suite of proprietary videoconferencing applications for desktop and mobile computers by Zoom Video Communications.
-
Proprietary: Free (as in freedom, not price) software puts the user in control by allowing you to use the software for any purpose, modify it, and redistribute it. Non-free or proprietary software, on the other hand, witholds one or more of these freedoms, giving the developer of the software unjust power over the users.
-
Centralized: Centralized services are operated and controlled by a single entity, putting the operator in the position of gatekeeper with total power over your use of the service. Centralized systems also suffer from a single point of failure and are vulnerable to censorship both by the operator and by governments with jurisdiction over the operation of the service.
-
No End-to-End Encryption (E2EE): Allows two or more end-points to communicate confidentially, such that no one in the middle (including the service operator) has access to the contents of the communication. This represents a baseline requirement for recommendation in this guide.
-
Disallows Alternative Clients: Requires the use of sanctioned software clients with the provided service. This means that if the official client contains anti-features, for example, you cannot avoid them by using an alternative.
-
Limited Interoperability: Interoperability increases freedom and usefulness by allowing different systems to work together. When a service is hostile to other services interoperating, particularly a communication service, this places users in a walled garden, which limits choice and can make it difficult to switch to or from an alternative.
Zoom allows participants to join meetings by calling in from the plain old telephone network (POT), thus allowing participants to avoid installing and using the non-free client applications to participate. However, the functionality is limited to voice only, in this case.
-
Does Not Limit Metadata: Metadata is "data about data." In the context of communication, metadata could represent information about who sent or received a message and at what date and time.
-
Allows Anonymous or Pseudonymous Use: Does not require revealing personally identifiable information (PII) in order to communicate.
Zoom allows participants to join meetings without signing into an account and without providing any PII, but hosting a meeting requires the host to provide PII.
-
Contains Anti-Features: An anti-feature is a feature of a program that prioritizes the interests of some party other than the user of the program—often those of the program’s developer. In many cases, the feature actively works against the interests of the user, for example by artificially limiting the functionality of the program or subjecting the user to surveillance.