Zoom will pay USD 85 million to users over misleading encryption claims

Zoom has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit against the company for misleading users about offering end-to-end encryption. The company will pay USD 85 million or around USD 15 or USD 25 each for Zoom users in the US. The amount depends on whether the user has a free or paid subscription between March 30, 2016, and July 30, 2021. Zoom was accused of lying about its encryption description on its site and in a security white paper. The company was also accused of providing user data to Facebook and Google without users' permission.

The suit was filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Zoom also agreed to over a dozen changes to its practices, "designed to meet security, bolster privacy disclosures, and safeguard consumer data." A hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary approval of the settlement is scheduled for October 21, 2021.

Source: MacRumors

Audio ripping website Convert2MP3 shuts down following lawsuit settlement

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For years audio ripping site Convert2MP3 lets its users download audio files from YouTube links and other sources. Now the site has been shut down as part of a 2017 lawsuit settlement. According to the global recording industry organization IFPI’s 2018 Music Consumer Insight Report, 38 percent of people around the world consume music through copyright infringement. Those who infringe use sites like Convet2MP3. The 2017 case was filed by German record labels in coordination with IFPI in the company’s home country of Germany. The labels claimed the site supported large-scale and sustained copyright violations by allowing people to get the audio from things like music videos.

To avoid litigation in court, Convert2MP3 agreed to shut down the site and any of its associated sites. The company also has to surrender its domains to IFPI. There’s also financial compensation included in the settlement and the site’s operator agrees to “not infringe copyright or circumvent technological protection measures in relation to recorded music in future.”

Source: IFPI