With the rush to push everyone to home there's a ton of these non-tech inclined people doing quite a ton of things. I've been working from home at least some of the time since 2015 and was about 80% of the time at home before the WuFlu hit.
I'm either not allowed or encouraged to be careful when I'm at home with respect to using unsecure third party meeting software (e.g. Zoom), having smart devices like an Echo around, allowing anyone else to use my company computer, certain personal use of company computer, doing company business on my personal computer, etc. Bear in mind this is all to protect proprietary information for the most part. I could leak my entire computer and everything I have access to and no personal information like could be used for identity theft would be in it, except maybe my own.
When it all hit last year, I helped a couple people get things set up. Both were using personal computers that their kids also used occasionally, etc. It was just install a VPN and jump on the Zoom meeting or do your work right there. One of these people worked in payroll processing for God sake. Just piles and piles of personal information of people they were processing, you know Excel files full of data, etc. on someone's personal computer that isn't even sort of secure, encrypted, or anything. It's totally crazy and I was a bit mindblown.
A few years back I was in a conference call with my company's legal team and another company's legal team over some IP dispute, and before the call our lawyers checked that the presentation system worked and even that the mute button on the phone did in fact turn off the microphone.
I don't expect lawyers to perform IT miracles but I do expect them to at least test something new out to ensure it works correctly before going to court with it. "I let my kid/grandkid use this laptop, so I should make sure it's working right before my important court session" is a reasonable expectation I would think.
I didn't even know you could be made into a cat on there. Stupid feature if you ask me. Video conferencing is overrated anyway.
But yeah, showing up to court proceedings as a virtual cat, I feel like that would be like me hiring an attorney who shows up to actual physical court in a swimsuit. It just doesn't present a "we are totally on top of our game" vibe.
I too am surprised there's not an "actually this is serious and we don't want people on this call to show up as cats" mode that can be set as default. Seems like an obvious feature, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if zoom wants shit like this to happen for free advertising purposes (notice how the zoom logo is always prominently shown in these videos).
It might not always be Zoom's fault. I know when I use a vTuber overlay (I'm not a vTuber, was just curious how it worked), it interfaces directly with the camera input/output, not later programs which use that camera information. In such a situation, no amount of "idiot-proofing" on Zoom's part would prevent me from appearing (or not appearing as it may be) on camera in a certain aesthetic.
Had to help a family friend on the other side of the country verify his dead wife's will last week, just did shit from my phone to avoid the headache, but then came having to e-verify the signature and me and his lawyer emailing back and forth and the woman telling me "whatever your dad did worked" and my dad going i don't know what the hell i did, ask your brother, and my brother going he just scribbled on his ipad.
Like jesus christ.
Which i did end up doing from my computer and i haven't heard back so i'm assuming its good.
With the rush to push everyone to home there's a ton of these non-tech inclined people doing quite a ton of things. I've been working from home at least some of the time since 2015 and was about 80% of the time at home before the WuFlu hit.
I'm either not allowed or encouraged to be careful when I'm at home with respect to using unsecure third party meeting software (e.g. Zoom), having smart devices like an Echo around, allowing anyone else to use my company computer, certain personal use of company computer, doing company business on my personal computer, etc. Bear in mind this is all to protect proprietary information for the most part. I could leak my entire computer and everything I have access to and no personal information like could be used for identity theft would be in it, except maybe my own.
When it all hit last year, I helped a couple people get things set up. Both were using personal computers that their kids also used occasionally, etc. It was just install a VPN and jump on the Zoom meeting or do your work right there. One of these people worked in payroll processing for God sake. Just piles and piles of personal information of people they were processing, you know Excel files full of data, etc. on someone's personal computer that isn't even sort of secure, encrypted, or anything. It's totally crazy and I was a bit mindblown.
A few years back I was in a conference call with my company's legal team and another company's legal team over some IP dispute, and before the call our lawyers checked that the presentation system worked and even that the mute button on the phone did in fact turn off the microphone.
I don't expect lawyers to perform IT miracles but I do expect them to at least test something new out to ensure it works correctly before going to court with it. "I let my kid/grandkid use this laptop, so I should make sure it's working right before my important court session" is a reasonable expectation I would think.
I didn't even know you could be made into a cat on there. Stupid feature if you ask me. Video conferencing is overrated anyway.
But yeah, showing up to court proceedings as a virtual cat, I feel like that would be like me hiring an attorney who shows up to actual physical court in a swimsuit. It just doesn't present a "we are totally on top of our game" vibe.
I too am surprised there's not an "actually this is serious and we don't want people on this call to show up as cats" mode that can be set as default. Seems like an obvious feature, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if zoom wants shit like this to happen for free advertising purposes (notice how the zoom logo is always prominently shown in these videos).
It might not always be Zoom's fault. I know when I use a vTuber overlay (I'm not a vTuber, was just curious how it worked), it interfaces directly with the camera input/output, not later programs which use that camera information. In such a situation, no amount of "idiot-proofing" on Zoom's part would prevent me from appearing (or not appearing as it may be) on camera in a certain aesthetic.
You would think but if you work in IT this shit ain’t surprising...
Had to help a family friend on the other side of the country verify his dead wife's will last week, just did shit from my phone to avoid the headache, but then came having to e-verify the signature and me and his lawyer emailing back and forth and the woman telling me "whatever your dad did worked" and my dad going i don't know what the hell i did, ask your brother, and my brother going he just scribbled on his ipad.
Like jesus christ.
Which i did end up doing from my computer and i haven't heard back so i'm assuming its good.