Zoom Violates Consumer Privacy Rights

NOTICE:
If you have downloaded, installed and opened the Zoom application, your privacy may have been violated. Contact the Arnold Law Firm at (916) 777-7777.

You have probably heard of Zoom. Zoom Video Communications is a leading provider of video conferencing services that have recently become immensely popular throughout the United States with the onset of COVID-19 shelter-in-place mandates. Housebound consumers have flocked to Zoom and other web conferencing vendors, as a means of maintaining a sense of closeness with friends and loved ones and conducting business while following social distance measures.

The California-based company touts transparency regarding management of user data with a reassuring privacy policy that claims to identify and disclose to its users all of the information Zoom automatically collects from its users when they interact with Zoom products.

However, on March 26, 2020, journalist Joseph Cox published a report suggesting otherwise. The report documents unauthorized disclosure of user personal information to Facebook. The unauthorized information includes the users’ mobile operating system (OS) type and version, the device time zone, the device model and the device’s unique advertising identifier. The unique advertising identifier allows companies to target the user with advertisements. 

Zoom sends this unauthorized information to Facebook when a user installs, and each time a user opens, the application. This information is sent to Facebook by Zoom regardless of whether the user has an account with Facebook.

On March 27, 2020, Zoom admitted in a public blog entry that the Zoom App was sending personal information to Facebook upon installation and each open and close of the Zoom App. They further admitted that no adequate notice was provided to users for these unauthorized disclosures.

Also on March 27, 2020, Zoom released a new version of the Zoom App which claims to no longer send unauthorized personal information of its users to Facebook.

However, Zoom appears to have not blocked prior versions of the Zoom App from operating. Unless users happen to update their Zoom app, they will continue to unknowingly send unauthorized personal information to Facebook and perhaps other third parties.

Zoom has not offered to remedy the unauthorized disclosures made to date. Zoom has not ensured that Facebook or other third parties have deleted personal information received from Zoom without adequate notice or authorization by Zoom’s users.

If you have downloaded, installed and opened the Zoom application, you may have incurred unauthorized use of your personal information. The Arnold Law Firm is currently investigating this apparent violation of California’s consumer protection laws.

Contact us at (916) 777-7777 to discuss your situation and possible legal options.