Value your privacy? Don't use Skype's 'Meet Now'​ feature!

18 Nov 2021 04:07 PM

What is Skype's Meet Now?

Meet Now is a feature offered by Skype and the answer to Zoom's rise in popularity. It offers people the ability to quickly create meetings that do not require participants or even their hosts to have a Skype account. It's free and makes it a very tempting product to use to schedule meetings on an ad-hoc basis. However, that feature does come with a catch and it's to do with privacy and control over your data.

How does it work?

Whenever you set up a meeting through Skype's Meet Now, it creates a shareable link that looks something like this "https://join.skype.com/xxxxxxxxxxxx". In place of "x", it will give you an alpha numerical code, which is akin to a password to make it hard to guess and difficult for anyone to join your meeting, unless you shared the link with them. That is where we are facing the first issue.

No additional security through password or pin

There is no possibility of changing the shareable link, it is permanent. With no option of creating a PIN or password that would serve as an additional barrier, anyone can join your meeting, if they have the link to it. This is precisely one of the things that Zoom came under fire for, coining the term 'Zoombombing'. Zoom suffered from invitation links with short codes, making them very easy to guess. This caused unwanted guests to join people's meetings, hijacking them through trolling and insertion of unsavoury content or verbal attacks. Although there haven't been any reports of the same for Skype meetings, it could also be a possible for the same to happen.

Storage of your information

There are video and chat, which are both part of the meeting. It also allows you to record the meeting, which is a great feature. Skype say that "Your personal invitation links have no expiration date" and that they "hold your call recordings for up to 30 days and media shared in the chat even longer". It means that some of your information may stay on Skype's servers indefinitely!

Deletion (or the inability thereof)

You may think "I just delete the meeting then" to get rid of all the information. Well, it is not that easy. For anyone who creates meetings without an account, there are no options of deleting the meeting. Also, if you do happen to have an account set up, it will give you the options to Hide conversation, Leave group and Delete group. Hiding the conversation will still make it searchable for you, should you wish to go back to it at a later point. Leaving the group will remove you as a participant from the meeting and also remove it from your chat history. Now we come to the Delete group option. One would think that it does exactly what it says but you are mistaken! You will get the following dialogue when trying to "delete" a group/meeting you created.

Delete conversation
Are you sure you want to delete this conversation?
It will only be deleted for you and no one else.

Yes, you read that right; any attempt to delete it is futile! The meeting (even if created by yourself) will remain on the server and accessible to everyone with the link. The same goes for all of your recordings (shared in the meeting's chat history), media and discussions!

Privacy nightmare

Skype (Microsoft) want to make it easy for people by removing as many barriers as possible and allow you to create, invite and join meetings without creating a new account. However, this comes at a great cost. With no actual option of deleting information, Skype's Meet Now is a complete privacy nightmare and we would never recommend using it for any sensitive information or meetings. You are not in control of your data and it requires contacting Skype (Microsoft) to request the deletion. This is bad and no service should ever store your data, without giving you an easy option of fully deleting it!

Our recommendation

If you are in need of video meeting and conferencing tools for your business and happen to use Skype's Meet Now, we recommend to stop as soon as possible. Just check some of your old meeting links from months ago to understand what we mean and look at the information that is possibly accessible to anyone on the Internet. Time to look at some alternatives that do come with the added security.

Zoho Meeting

We mainly use Zoho Meeting when there are only a few participants. They offer meeting PINs and participants can join without having to sign up for a separate account. The free plan allows up to 3 participants and a tiered system for 10 to 100 participants, starting at £2.00 /host per month.

Jitsi Meet

Not heard of Jitsi Meet, where have you been hiding? It's the best alternative to Zoom, offering encryption. It's open source and you don't need an account. It's our go-to for larger meetings and works on all platforms like web and mobile (applications available on the App and Play Store). Best of all, it's FREE and participants do not need to sign up.

Zoom

Zoom has probably become the most popular choice in recent years. Signing up for a free account allows for up to 100 participants but limits your meetings to 40 minutes (one-on-one meetings are unlimited). The cheapest paid plan will set you back £119.90/licence for the the year. It is a less affordable option compared to Zoho Meet and certainly to Jitsi Meet!

Google (Meet & Duo)

Google has always had a rather confusing selection of communication tools and this is why they have two options. The first one is more targeted at private individuals and is called Duo. You can initiate a voice or video call with another person who is also on Duo. This can be done by using their mobile number or email address (they will need to have signed up for Duo already). Furthermore, it is possible to create a group call for up to 35 participants. It doesn't come with all the bells and whistles of a full-blown video meeting app but is a viable (free) alternative.

The other offer is Google Meet. It was initially limited to Workspace (GSuite) users but has now been made available to the wider public. Although it has some limitations with regard to recording, it is a great option that covers all of your basic needs for up to 100 participants.

Both Duo and Google Meet (free version) will require every participant to set up a Google account. This can be done by using an existing email address (no need for a Gmail address) but may not be something everyone is happy to do. Google Meet only offers the ability to join meetings without the need to set up a Google account in their paid (Workspace) versions, starting at £4.60/user per month.

Your data, your choice!

No matter which platform you use to connect with other businesses or family and friends. Make sure that only the right people gain access to your data.

Not sure which option is best for You? Contact us to get professional advice for the implementation of the right Software-as-a-service (SaaS) in your business.

GR Consulting Services