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Zoom needs to clean up its privacy act

(blogs.harvard.edu)
1597 points seapunk | 1 comments | 27 Mar 20 14:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.299s | source
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mrpippy ◴[27 Mar 20 20:39 UTC] No.22706650[source]▶
I just downloaded Zoom for Mac, saw that it was a .pkg file. Great, I can see what files it installs before I install it.

I open the .pkg, click Continue so it can run its script, then a second later Installer quits and the app launches. What?!

Turns out, Zoom installs the entire app in the 'preinstall' script of the installer package! Inside there's a copy of '7z', and the app is extracted with that. The preinstall script is littered with typos and poor grammar.

I'm not one of those people who thinks that Apple is going to force all Mac software to come through the App Store, but when I see stuff this stupid...I start to wonder.

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Wowfunhappy ◴[27 Mar 20 21:50 UTC] No.22707224[source]▶
While I also dislike this type of thing, remember that Zoom's business is built on getting people into calls as quickly as possible. Seconds matter.

So I can totally understand why they would want to use 7zip to shave kilobytes off the download size.

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swiley ◴[27 Mar 20 22:05 UTC] No.22707333[source]▶
7zip isn’t the complaint, it’s that the installer installs the app before the user OKs it.

Honestly zoom is something that I would never let near a personal computer. What really surprised me is that there’s a “zoomgov.” (a friend at a defense contractor showed me) Either our government is enjoying the benefits of being able to force companies to be audited because of defense budgets or things have become way more relaxed than they should be. Judging by our “stockpiles” and inability to get critical equipment I’m guessing the second one.

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1. pfranz ◴[27 Mar 20 22:32 UTC] No.22707514[source]▶
Apparently, there's an upgrade for HIPPA compliance, too. I have no idea what that entails or how to tell from the client-side if that's in place. I was working with a medical provider and had to switch to remote sessions. Our first VC was cancelled last minute because they were upgrading the account for HIPPA.