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A comment on Ask HN: Why does Zoom Desktop examine all processes and arguments?.

Re:Ask HN: Why does Zoom Desktop examine all processes and a... by vishho on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @08:52PM (#28216554)
Zoom has attention tracking, which when enabled silently, shows an admin if the screen is maximized or if the user is focused on other applications. They don't yet tell admins what other apps the user is active in, just whether the user is active.

Another angle for Zoom to do that, is that it is a massive Chinese spyware application, which can target users by meta data or IP, like it did by messing with the calls of activists. A bit like how anti-virus companies are sometimes charged with exfiltrating secret documents.

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Re:Ask HN: Why does Zoom Desktop examine all processes and a... by bowmessage on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @09:02PM (#28216605)
Oh, yuck, I didn't know this was a thing but it looks like it has since been removed:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000538083-Atten...

> As of April 2, 2020, we have removed the attendee attention tracker feature as part of our commitment to the security and privacy of our customers. For more background on this change and how we are pivoting during these unprecedented times, please see a note from our CEO, Eric S. Yuan.

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Re:Ask HN: Why does Zoom Desktop examine all processes and a... by hashhar on Wednesday August 18, 2021 @06:40AM (#28219513)
That feature got pulled last year and hasn't existed for over a year and a half now.
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