This is a text automatically translated from Italian. If you appreciate our work and if you like reading it in your language, consider a donation to allow us to continue doing it and improving it.
Content index
We want to talk to you of Zoom again, neither we wrote recently where we talked about some of his recent (and other) problems with privacy. In the meantime, however, a lot of news has come out (we thank, among others, the friends of Digital Ethics always on point). We are therefore quite certain, or at least we hope so, that many of you are wondering: “ok, I've had enough. What alternative to Zoom?“
If you don't know what we're talking about, you should continue reading then. In the meantime, you might be interested in our summary of March 30th, where it had just been discovered that Zoom he shared (now no longer) our data with Facebook. Without mentioning it in theirs privacy policy!
What alternative to Zoom?
A few things have happened in the meantime and we'll tell you about them Zoombombing, Of SpaceX, Of encryption and of China.
The first news is about Elon Musk. SpaceX in fact it is the aerospace company desired and built by the South African entrepreneur at the beginning of 2000. Well, according to Reuters Elon Musk would have completely prohibited to its employees the use of Zoom due to his repeated problems with the privacy and on the safety.
Why do we also talk about security in addition to privacy? This is where it comes into play second news. Second a relationship from the Citizen Lab (University of Toronto), the End-to-end encryption used by Zoom It would have several shortcomings. It would not be secure and, not least, some meeting security keys were coming also generated in China, not exactly known for being the home of civil rights. Subsequently the company he has declared that the keys generated in China were a mistake. In short, first Facebook and now the China. How many distractions!
If you are interested delve deeper into this news you can read the article on The Intercept.
Zoombombing
Last, but perhaps not least, is it Zoombombing. In practice it is the increasingly frequent intrusion of external and uninvited people, during video calls and the video conferencing made with Zoom. These intrusions are so frequent that the term was even coined Zoombombing.
In short, the elements to ask yourself: what alternative to Zoom? They really are all there. And we offer you Jitsi! It's an application Open source And free that you can use in different ways and that it replaces Zoom very well. Here are some ways to use it:
Jitsi Meet
Jitsi official website, you can make all the video calls you want using the servers for free 8×8. Their servers, however, are in the United States, Canada and Australia and this might make some people turn up their noses (they are all 5 eyes countries). Find it on LibreAdvice a guide for its use.
I'm staying at home.work
Site born on the wave of #iorestohome And of the Covid-19 health emergency. Anyone can make a server available with it installed Jitsi. And anyone can use it for free for their video calls. The servers are therefore managed independently by people who have decided to help others.
Consortium GARR
There are also Italian servers Consortium GARR with eduMeet And Jitsi. Highly recommended, fast, free and definitely reliable.
Calyx Meet
In addition to the ones mentioned above, you can also try the servers made available by CalyxOS.
Together Brave
We would like to highlight an interesting initiative from Browsers Brave. Private video conferences, 100% Open source (It is used Jitsi) and completely free. No registration is required, however you must use Brave Browsers to access the video call or have Jitsi on your smartphone.
Infomaniak Meet
Infomaniak it is the first Hosting web in Switzerland. It's a company green with an important ethical vision. Its servers are all located in Switzerland. They decided to create an app called Infomaniak Meet, which uses the source code Of Jitsi, and to make available their Swiss servers for free for this quarantine. A good compromise for those who want privacy and the safety of a Hosting European really reliable.
MiroTalk P2P
A very interesting alternative that was reported to us on Codeberg 1. It is free software and anyone can therefore create their own server with MiroTalk on it. However, there is a official server from which it is possible to organize video calls, including group ones. The program has several features including screen sharing, private global chat, call recording, whiteboard, file sharing and password to access the room. You don't need any program to install but everything is done via Browsers.
• •Telegram
Telegram like parsley, you can put it everywhere. In fact, we already know that it is not a simple messaging application but also a valid substitute for social networks and, why not, of group video calls. Thanks to its new and constant updates, Telegram allows group video calls and also the interesting ones Voice chats.
Unlike Jitsi however, it requires registration with a telephone number and is therefore a more invasive choice than the previous ones.
Briefing
This is a recent alternative that you suggested to us 2. No support servers are used but everything takes place peer-to-peer, that is, without the need to use external servers. AND Open source 3 and it seems to work well. No need to download any apps - it all works on Browsers.
Self-hosting
Jitsi is Open source, anyone can then install it on a server and make it available to everyone or themselves.
If you liked the article you might be interested in following us on it Twitter or up Telegram!
Join communities
If you have found errors in the article you can report them by clicking here, Thank you!