Zoom wants to give its customers more control over their privacy preferences and data storage in Europe. That is why the video calling and chat application has introduced various new privacy features. This gives users more insight into Zoom’s policy regarding the retention and deletion of data.
Zoom reports this in a press statement sent to us by e-mail.
After multiple incidents, Zoom security is improving
During the corona pandemic, Zoom was one of the most popular chat services on the web. That is, until things went wrong at the company. There were incidents in which people were able to break into a meeting without an invitation ( zoombombing ), it turned out that video calls and chat messages were both written out and stored in audio on Zoom’s servers, and login names and passwords ended up on the street .
General Manager Eric S. Yuan promised to improve and has since implemented various measures to better protect the security and privacy of customers. For example, administrators of a meeting are required to set a password and end-to-end encryption is available to everyone. In doing so, users’ devices create the keys to this form of encryption. That means Zoom cannot eavesdrop on conversations or decrypt data.
Zoom has introduced these new privacy measures
Today Zoom takes the next step to ensure the privacy of its customers. For starters, paying European Economic Area (EEA) users can save certain dates for meetings, webinars, and team chat in Europe. “Only in individual cases and under exceptional circumstances” Zoom may share data with teams in the US.
There will also be a European support team, where customers can opt-in for technical support. In addition, Zoom has developed a new tool that allows administrators to respond to data access requests or requests to delete personal data for meetings.
Finally, users can now subscribe or unsubscribe from Zoom newsletters with a single click, administrators can track when audit logs are exported or deleted, and Zoom offers users more insight into data retention and deletion policies.
‘More control over data storage and processing’
“The new tools give our European customers more control over where their data is processed and stored and give them the option to delete personal data. Organizations can choose Zoom knowing that they are going with a vendor that is committed to protecting their data,” said Lynn Haaland, Chief Compliance, Ethics & Privacy Officer and Deputy General Counsel at Zoom.
Jet de Ranitz, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of SURF, is also pleased with Zoom’s new privacy measures. “With the new privacy features and recent adjustments, the company shows that it takes European privacy standards seriously. We are very happy with the result and the positive benefits for European users.”
In 2021, Zoom and SURF launched a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for Zoom services. As a result, Zoom has made great strides in user privacy, and many of the new features directly result from this close collaboration.