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Zoom doesn’t just work. If the students want privacy, they are just helpless. Edit: downvoted for speaking up for student rights. Sorry if it is inconvenient f

Zoom doesn’t just work. If the students want privacy, they are just helpless. Edit: downvoted for speaking up for student rights. Sorry if it is inconvenient for the teachers

867-5309 7y ago
universities are organisations, which all force some incarnation of an internet usage policy. better still, the students are paying an arm and a leg for their lack of privacy. wouldn't it be great for the non-technical end user if these Just Works™ software could just bypass firewalls by way of VPNs, common ports, obfuscated servers or the like?
impendia 7y ago
> If the students want privacy, they are just helpless. This isn't true actually. As a student, send the following email: "Hi Professor, I just read this webpage [link], which outlines some privacy concerns with Zoom. I know some other classes are running Software X, could we try that instead?" My university isn't mandating Zoom. Indeed, they recommended several software packages, of which their top recommendation was Blackboard. (Which is what I've been using so far. I have mostly joined others' Zoom meetings; I've only initiated them for a D+D game I'm participating in.) MS Teams was their second recommendation as I recall, and Zoom was below that. At least at my university -- and I expect that this is typical -- individual faculty members are deciding how to best fulfill their own responsibilities. And I have emphasized to my students that I have never done this before, and that I'm happy to change what I'm doing if people have good suggestions.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  > "Hi Professor, I just read this webpage [link], which outlines some privacy concerns with Zoom. I know some other classes are running Software X, could we try that instead?" Hi [Student], I appreciate your concern; however, our university has conducted a thorough audit of this software and found that it satisfies our needs. We will continue using it for our lectures. Regards, Dr. [Professor] Senior tenured chair of [Department], distinguished lecturer, [University]

Zoom doesn’t just work. If the students want privacy, they are just helpless. Edit: downvoted for speaking up for student rights. Sorry if it is inconvenient for the teachers

867-5309 7y ago

universities are organisations, which all force some incarnation of an internet usage policy. better still, the students are paying an arm and a leg for their lack of privacy. wouldn't it be great for the non-technical end user if these Just Works™ software could just bypass firewalls by way of VPNs, common ports, obfuscated servers or the like?

impendia 7y ago

> If the students want privacy, they are just helpless. This isn't true actually. As a student, send the following email: "Hi Professor, I just read this webpage [link], which outlines some privacy concerns with Zoom. I know some other classes are running Software X, could we try that instead?" My university isn't mandating Zoom. Indeed, they recommended several software packages, of which their top recommendation was Blackboard. (Which is what I've been using so far. I have mostly joined others' Zoom meetings; I've only initiated them for a D+D game I'm participating in.) MS Teams was their second recommendation as I recall, and Zoom was below that. At least at my university -- and I expect that this is typical -- individual faculty members are deciding how to best fulfill their own responsibilities. And I have emphasized to my students that I have never done this before, and that I'm happy to change what I'm doing if people have good suggestions.

saagarjha 7y ago
> "Hi Professor, I just read this webpage [link], which outlines some privacy concerns with Zoom. I know some other classes are running Software X, could we try that instead?" Hi [Student], I appreciate your concern; however, our university has conducted a thorough audit of this software and found that it satisfies our needs. We will continue using it for our lectures. Regards, Dr. [Professor] Senior tenured chair of [Department], distinguished lecturer, [University]