[conspire] online privacy in the time of Covid19

[paulz at ieee.org]

Some of the recent posts point to deficiencies with zoom.   And the weather has suspended yardwork and I have been watching more than the usual amount of YouTube.  This got me to thinking that about other groups I belong to that have been happily using zoom with no worries.  

So I drafted an email to send to "other groups".  It is posted below for your comments.  Did I miss a major point?  Am I being overly worried?  Are there better references?  Should I just go for a long walk with my umbrella?


The club has been using Zoom in place of physical meetings. Good idea with Covid19, but it has its own of issues.
Despite reassurancesform the company, Zoom is not really secure. 
https://citizenlab.ca/2020/04/move-fast-roll-your-own-crypto-a-quick-look-at-the-confidentiality-of-zoom-meetings/

IMHO, any companywith a significant presence in China is a potential security problem. China openly uses every means available to monitor peoplesactivities. Zoom has some of its servers in China.

So what? We're inthe US. Many zoom events are alternatives to meetings that would beopen to the public. More attendees would be a good thing. 

There are growingincidents of "zoom bombing". The following URL from the FBI refers to online school classes being interrupted by weird people. 

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/boston/news/press-releases/fbi-warns-of-teleconferencing-and-online-classroom-hijacking-during-covid-19-pandemic

Then I found thisvideo, "Why Privacy Matters".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcSlowAhvUk

I'm not planning torob a bank, set off a bomb or other bad things. Why should I beconcerned about privacy? 

Because many groupsbelieve that "any" thinking contrary to their agenda is"bad". These groups range from sick individuals to foreigngovernments. They use a variety of tactics from bullying to shamingto spreading false information. Not to mention commercialinterests with targeted advertising. 

















-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/attachments/20200406/ac8fb766/attachment.html>