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How does HiDoq compare to Zoom?
Unlike Zoom, our platform was custom built for health practitioners and compliance with HIPAA. Four things set HiDoq apart from Zoom.
- Zoom does not use Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
- Zoom doesn't always use End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)
- Zoom has a questionable privacy and security history
- Zoom is not HIPAA compliant
1. Zoom does not use Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
We use peer-to-peer video conferencing to ensure that personal information stays in United States. Zoom does not. Zoom uses client-server video conferencing, which involves personal data being managed on external servers. This means that US authorities can compel Zoom to provide access. It also means Zoom employees have access.
2. Zoom doesn't use might use only sometimes uses End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)
Despite saying they provided End-To-End Encryption (E2EE), on 31 March 2020 it was revealed that they were "using their own definition" of End-To-End Encryption. Their definition is what everyone else would call NOT End-To-End Encryption! Zoom was widely condemned for misleading people. Wired, The Verge, TechCrunch, The Guardian, The New York Times, and many others all reported on this. Zoom then announced that they were going to support E2EE on 25 May 2020. Then on 15 June 2020, they announced that they were going only to enable E2EE for paid accounts saying it was not possible to do it for all accounts. This was again met with uproar. On 17 June they then announced that they discovered a way to do it for all accounts, but it would not be enabled by default, and it would only work if all participants verify their phone number and provide Zoom with "more details" (the more details have yet to be confirmed). These restrictions will be impractical for use by patients in a Telehealth setting.
3. Zoom has a questionable privacy and security history
Despite saying security and privacy are of high importance, Zoom has had a checkered past. There have been numerous other privacy and security issues raised in the recent past.
- Traffic routed through China
- Questionable Crypto
- Sending data to Facebook
- Zoombombing
- Zoom blocked US users at the request of the Chinese Government.
- Most of Zoom's development is done in China.
All these things raise the question - can Zoom be trusted?
4. Zoom is not HIPAA compliant
There is a "Zoom for Healthcare" which can be made HIPAA Compliant, however, plans start at $200 per month per account (10 hosts), there is a one-year commitment, and you have to go through their sales department to set up and enable it.
This information was accurate as at 23 June 2020.