The paid version has a feature where the organization admins can listen and watch in conversations without anybody noticing or giving consent. I am quite sure that doing so would be illegal where I live (Germany).
If you are looking for a source of these claims, let me give you one:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/what-you-should-know-a...> Administrators also have the ability to join any call at any time on their organization’s instance of Zoom, without in-the-moment consent or warning for the attendees of the call.
that doesn't mention the `without noticing` part, which is the creepy not good part. sounds like it's just saying the administrators get a list of currently running meetings and can join them if they want without being invited. doesn't say they're hidden or anything.
well the article says admins can join "without warning" (i.e., without notice) and without consent. Although the article does not say whether the admin appears on the user list or not, lets assume the admin does show on the user list. Then, it seems in practice to be very well possible to join and attend the meeting without anyone noticing. I am certainly not constantly monitoring the current user list in my meetings, especially not in larger ones.
You are clutching at straws here. Zoom fires an alert when somebody joins a meeting. If you're not paying attention, that's not Zoom's problem. If the alert isn't surfaced very well, that's an UX issue, but not a creepy privacy invasion. And if you expect to be able to use a platform which your employer has provided without any oversight whatsoever, I don't even know what sort of problem that is. Do you also expect to be able to lock the door to a physical meeting room, on your employer's property, and use it for your own private purposes unchallenged?