Zoom, Facial Recognition, and Privacy
What is Zoom?
Zoom is a cloud-based video communications app that allows you to set up virtual video and audio conferencing, webinars, live chats, screen-sharing, and other collaborative capabilities. It is now the video communication platform of choice for federal governments, educators, companies, religious communities, and even just regular people looking to chat with friends and family. It is appealing to users because of its simplicity--meetings truly start with just one click. It’s easy to get started, the app is lightweight, and the interface is relatively intuitive to use with many features built right into the app. Since you don’t need an account to join Zoom meetings, nearly anyone can access it, but you must sign up if you plan on hosting, scheduling, and managing your own calls.
The company has taken off in popularity as people turn to video calling software amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It has become especially important to education systems, where it enhances live, online teaching and encourages student engagement in a time where in-person classes are not possible. With all of this extra attention, Zoom is now facing a huge privacy and security backlash as security experts, privacy advocates, lawmakers, and even the FBI warn that Zoom’s default settings aren’t secure enough.
Facial ID and Proctored Exams
Facial recognition regarding proctored exams has a massive impact. With the implementation of this technology and increased popularity of online courses and degree programs it has raised several concerns.
Who - According to insidehighered.com, Tens of thousands of online exams now are taken each month by students enrolled in online courses.
What - Proctored exams are timed exams that you take while proctoring software monitors your computer's desktop, webcam video and audio.
Where - Proctored exams can be administered in a schools testing lab or from the home of the student with a computer or laptop.
When - Although used prior to 2020, online proctoring of exams have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout high schools and college universities throughout 2021.
Why - Online subscription based tutoring websites have become areas of temptation for students seeking help. Using this help on exams is classified as academic dishonesty in most high schools and colleges.
How - The proctoring software takes steps to decrease the likelihood of academic dishonesty but sacrifices the feeling of safety and security for the students. The proctoring software confirms the students identity and monitors students face and eye movements throughout test taking through a webcam.
With the implementation of proctored exam services the concerns of students have grown past performing their best on any given test/exam. A statistical analysis done by Education and Information Technologies. The Official Journal of the IFIP Technical Committee on Education looked at the environmental, psychological, cultural, and privacy concerns of students being recorded and how that impacts their test taking experience. The results of the analysis for each sector are outlined below.
Environmental concerns
Only one third (38.7%, n = 41) of the students agreed that the place where they conducted their exams was comfortable and free from distractions (M = 2.25, SD = 0.68). however, 79.2% (n = 84) of students indicated that their small apartments prevented their family from moving or making noise during the exam (M = 2.14, SD = 0.73), and 81.1% (n = 86) of students agreed that it was too difficult to manage between studying and taking care of themselves and their family during the COVID-19 pandemic (M = 2.14, SD = 0.71).
Psychological concerns
The majority of students (77.4%, n = 82) agreed that “fears from COVID-19 reflect negatively on my academic performance”, (M = 2.05, SD = 0.70). Furthermore, 85.8% (n = 91) of students stated that the “E-exam makes me feel more stressed than the paper-based exam” (M = 2.34, SD = 0.71), and 91.6% (n = 97) agreed that “Being watched through the webcam makes me anxious and causes poor performance”, (M = 2.41, SD = 0.64).
Cultural concerns
Only 23.6% (n = 25) of students agreed that “using the e-proctoring tool is not acceptable by my culture and family” (M = 1.9, SD = 0.75), with the majority (76.4%, n = 81) disagreeing. The statement, “I think an open webcam during the online exam is insensitive to Islamic traditions and culture”, was equally as divided, with identical percentages of students agreeing and disagreeing with it as in the statement above (M = 1.9, SD = 0.75). Finally, about 40% (n = 43) agreed about negative attitudes toward the acceptance of webcams was attributed to their reserved families (M = 2.25, SD = 0.71).
Privacy concerns
More than 86% of students (n = 92) agreed with the statement, “I feel that opening the webcam during online exams is impractical, and would breach my privacy” (M = 2.29, SD = 0.69). Moreover, 89.6% (n = 95) agreed that they “feel e-proctoring tools are invading my personal life and reducing my learning satisfaction” (M = 2.25, SD = 0.63).
Zoom Privacy Concerns for Students and workers.
When an application like zoom has access to personal information such as face images, age, gender and names users can be subject to privacy concerns without knowing it. With physical meetings starting to be a thing of the past students and workers all around the world have turned to online video conferencing as a replacement. Researchers are looking into the privacy concerns related with these online video conferencing apps, and with zoom being the biggest there have been many tests conducted with some shocking results.
Researchers have taken a data set filled with zoom screenshots to cross reference these screenshots and performed analysis on each screenshot for facial detection. After all of these tests they were able to spot faces in images with 80% accuracy, detect gender, and estimate age, along with this they were able to get access to the text recognition library and extract 63% of users usernames. After all the results found by researchers they concluded not only are students and workers' personal data at risk, but also the privacy and security of organizations and businesses that use zoom. There have been reports of people having deleted certain images and chats that were saved on zoom but then finding them saved in an online directory.
Students, while they think it is fun, “Zoom Bombing” is becoming a big issue with all online classes and is becoming a huge problem. “Zoom Bombing” is when people who are not supposed to be invited to the meeting join and disrupt classes or important meetings. Some Zoom bombers guess meeting ID’s and join but some of Zoom meeting IDs are leaked by students or people involved and these bombers have easy access to join. There has been many reports of people doing these Zoom bombings and horrible things are said and sent throughout these meetings causing a huge disruption to all involved. Not only can this be disruptive, but it can also create privacy issues for people.
Some of the privacy concerns with zoom bombing can be having your username and pictures of your screens released by these bombers and having confidential information released. Data from the meeting can be released or saved by these bombers and for some people this can be very scary depending on the extent of the meeting. Zoom users have been setting passwords on meetings to try and regulate this new phenomenon. While some people do this just as a joke some others have malicious intent and Zoom users should be wary of this.
Options to Deny Policies for Customers
Zoom's Privacy Policy Customers on Zoom accept privacy policies when downloading the application and entering their email. When being recorded on a call everyone in the “room” must answer that they know the meeting is being recorded and to accept that or not. There is no other option to customers other than this on what information Zoom is taking. The data that they collect only has to do with improving the app and making sure it can be run effectively and successfully. That is why some users are not given an option because this data is being taken so the application can be run on everyone's different types of computers. According to Zoom they never share the data they take to any 3rd party customers, and never sell customers data. Zoom is extremely connected for customers' privacy and it is something they focus on, and on a regular basis. Their privacy policies are very good compared to other platforms or apps that perform the same thing.
Zoom does use some users' personal data in relevance to advertising with Google Ads and Google Analytics. Zoom also takes customer content which records the names of all the users on the call and what is shared during the call. The big aspect is that customers do not know exactly what is being taken and they feel they should be given the option or not for Zoom to take it.
Awareness of Data Collection
Zoom’s privacy statement explains its practices when they process our “personal data”, which is information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. This includes name, email address, phone number, and physical address. To “process” or “processing” means any use of personal data including, transferring, collecting, recording, storing, using, analyzing, combining, disclosing or deleting it. The program also applies to the personal data they process as the party that determines what data to collect and why. Users provide some of the data directly, and the rest is received by collecting data about the interactions, use, and experiences with the service. The data they collect depends on the context of the interactions with Zoom and the choices made, including the products and features used. For example, it collects group chat messages and whatever is uploaded within the meeting. Also, if you create an account through Facebook or Google, it automatically has access to more personal information from those accounts. The program also maintains the right to share data with third parties for business purposes. However, the company does not necessarily have your individual privacy in mind.
As a user, you have to be the one to take action and do your best to protect your data. Hackers are able to access the system and easily interrupt meetings. There are also specific cases proving that hackers can use Zoom to access your computer’s camera without you realizing it. Also, by using the program, you are automatically consenting to allow yourself to be recorded, which could be information that shows up on the internet. There are actually thousands of recorded meetings that anyone who knows what to search can find. It is recommended that one of the best ways to protect yourself from hackers is to invest in a good VPN (Virtual Private Network).