Your boss is SPYING on you: The common Zoom video conference feature that could get you fired is revealed
- Millions of Australians are using video conferencing app Zoom to host meetings
- But there’s one feature you should always avoid using during work conferences
- Participants can use app’s chat function to send a message to another colleague
- One eagle-eyed professor found the in-meeting chat can be saved automatically
Millions of Australians are turning to the video conferencing app Zoom to host meetings with colleagues working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.
But there’s one common feature you should always avoid using during work conferences – or you could get yourself fired.
Participants can use the app’s chat function to send a message directly to another colleague during the meeting assuming no one else can read the private exchange.
However, one eagle-eyed professor discovered the in-meeting chat can be saved automatically – meaning everyone in the conference call can see what you’re up to.
As Australians increasingly work from home to prevent the spread of coronavirus, millions are logging into the video conferencing app Zoom to host meetings (stock image)
Participants can use the app’s chat function to send a message directly to another colleague during the meeting assuming no one else can read the private exchange
‘FYI: If you’re having a committee meeting via Zoom and you use the chat function to privately write to someone, your colleagues may not see it in real time, but it shows up when the chat is downloaded and put in the minutes folder,’ the anthropologist said.
On its website, Zoom explains that the in-meeting chat allows you to send chat messages to other users within a meeting.
You can send a private message to an individual user or you can send a message to the entire group. The in-meeting chat can be saved manually or automatically – depending on the settings.
But if you’re unlucky, the ‘auto-save chat’ will automatically save the entire in-meeting chat on the computer. As the host, you can choose who the participants can chat with or to disable chat entirely.
The professor said the best thing to do to avoid getting yourself in trouble is very simple: ‘Don’t private chat on Zoom’.
But one eagle-eyed professor discovered the in-meeting chat can be saved automatically – meaning everyone in the conference call can see what you’re up to
The professor said the best thing to do to avoid getting yourself in trouble is very simple: ‘Don’t private chat on Zoom’
‘My advice – check your chats before you download and share. Or don’t private chat on Zoom. Crikey,’ she said.
‘To answer a few questions: it wasn’t my chat, it was a completely innocuous chat, and yes, I agree with everyone who has said to treat anything you do online as if it it public information.’
Many were shocked with the revelation, with one saying: ‘Well that’s good to know. I am now questioning every Zoom meeting I’ve ever been in.’
One man recommended ‘going through the saved text to remove private chats before saving in your minutes folder’.
Another woman advised: ‘Nothing said online is ever private. Even if it’s encrypted, it isn’t private. Never say anything online to anyone that could be used against you.’
Others revealed how they learned the hard way about the so-called ‘private chat’ function after their conversations were exposed during the work conference.
‘I remember one time I made an eating a** joke in a conference call… Immediately we’re joined by the guy we hate and he says “oh I could eat so much salad now” the whole call was filled with creative salad jokes,’ one said.