AlexisThose of you who have been following me for a while know that I value privacy and online security. I wrote a few blog posts over the summer about it (I found a backup that I will be restoring soon!!), and I detailed how you can be more private and secure as a nudist online. Some of you won’t care, which is fine, but some of you are executives and business professionals that don’t want your private life choices exposed for the world to see. This is why I’m very selective about what apps I use, download, and store data on.
According to BitDefender’s blog, Hot for Security, a CNN news analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, unintentionally exposed himself in front of his coworkers during a zoom call. Cyber-criminals have taken this news along with the numerous exploitable vulnerabilities found in Zoom this year, and they have put together scam to scare naked Zoom users into paying a ransom to prevent themselves from having footage released online.
I know Zoom has been a necessary staple for many people, including nudist, and it has helped many people stay connected to friends and family during the 2020 biblical apocalypse. Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t had an exponential increase in locust populations and rivers flowing red with blood. Anyway…when I came across this article where scammers and hackers are exploiting people for being naked online via Zoom, it pretty much validated my reasons for not using Zoom for personal or professional purposes. Some of you are like: “Great, she’s on her cyber-soapbox again.” I won’t deny that it’s bothersome to me, and I may preach more than I should, but you can’t say it’s without merit. 😊
Zoom has been littered with known bugs for skilled hackers to spy on your meetings, and if you are having a private meeting with other naturist, then you generally want that privacy. At least I assume you do since most of you don’t broadcast your naturist status, and a number of you were really interested in my privacy series. Zoom has made a lot of changes to make their product more secure, but I’m not holding my breath on it being “bulletproof”. Instead I would encourage you to move to something like Signal or Wire for your personal video calls. At least it will be end-to-end encrypted and the apps have been audited and tested for security (Zoom has recently announced they are switching to end-to-end encryption).
What I want to bring to your attention (if you don’t already know) is most likely no one is has true videos or pictures of you from a Zoom meeting/meetup. It’s pretty much a scare tactic to get you to pay the hackers to not share your naked-self online to your friends, family, or colleagues. I’ve gotten these emails before on my personal and work emails. Let me explain how this happens.
Some would argue this but your email could technically be considered a form of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This is similar to your name, home address, and cell phone number. Everywhere you go someone is asking you for your email address, cell phone number, and even your home address. Some places demand real items tied to you. All of this data is sucked up and stored into a large database and then sold to marketers. At some point millions of people’s data are leaked/exposed and posted online. Scammers know this data is good and they can use it for extortion, scare tactics, spam, or even targeted attacks for ransom payments. You can guarantee there will be a large number of people who have gotten or been naked during a video call, nudist or not. We’re human and if you have a partner/lover/spouse who is afar, then you’re more inclined to play and flirt online. I would…wouldn’t you?
Sadly, this is something that happens to a number of people, particularly women, who have their private photos/videos used against them by a former lover, stalker, or even a family member as a way to control them. I have a family member who had an ex-boyfriend install some kind of spyware on her phone, and he could listen into her conversations, read her text messages, activate the microphone, and pretty much anything else you can think of. It was so sad and I will thrilled for her when she got away.
I think the most important part of this whole situation is we could avoid all of this “embarrassment” if nudity was normalized and accepted by society as a whole. I think we are making progress but we still have a way to go so we don’t fit into the category of “weird” or “perverted”. I’m not sure what’s more shameful: The fact nakedness is considered taboo, or criminals exploiting your lifestyle choices. To me, it’s like being shamed because you consider yourself homosexual or some other non-“traditional” status. Maybe we should advocate for nudists to be a protected status. At least then we may get some respect…maybe we can’t help it we are who we are, but that thought is for another day.
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You are right on with this post. Naturists lives matter also
I love your movement tag #NLM Naturist Lives Matter!!
How public are you as a nudist has been a never-ending topic for discussion in the community. Zoom is a tool that is very useful when used properly. It has been one of my favorite on-line meeting tools for years. The vulnerabilities were never exploited until it became so popular. This is bad for the noobs that are unfamiliar with how it operates, but good for the users in general because they’ve improved the security of it. Now I feel it is more secure than ever with end-to-end encryption as long as you use a new meeting ID and strong password. Also you should approve all people wanting to enter the meeting. If you do these things, you should feel pretty confident that your meeting will remain confidential.
I’ve only attended one Zoom session nude and that was with some good friends that I trust. I stay away from the other on-line events because part of being a nudist is the social aspect of it. I want to be with fellow naturists in-person! Still if I did attend an on-line event, I feel securer with Zoom than the other services out there. If you are doing small calls, then choose better programs like What’sApp or something that has end-to-end encryption and goes away.
I am very careful when I am in on-line professional meetings. I am always fully dressed and make sure that I don’t have any personal information on my screen in case I share it with others.
I am a proud naturist and I want to be fully open with it because there is nothing shameful and embarrassing about non-sexual social nudity. Yet society equates it with shameful sex acts while other immoralities are praised by society and the media. This hypocrisy is best left for another time. Many of us are challenged by how open we are with our social nudity. I desire to be very open and vocal but as a professional I have to be low-key. When I retire, I plan on being more of a public advocate for naturism.
Thank you for this very detailed comment. You are the audience I was aiming for. I agree that Zoom has made great strides in fixing their software, and with the addition of end-to-end encryption it is far more superior than what it once was. I have to use it on occasion for professional purposes, but I do prefer something more private (i.e. companies that don’t follow you around the internet) personally. That is just my choice.
I admit that I am guilty of not being fully clothed when I have meetings. I will have a nice shirt on but that is it except the blanket around my legs. If I have to get up or move at all, then I just turn the camera off for that brief moment. Nothing is ever said. 🙂
Like you, I don’t engage in any online events because you don’t know who you can and can’t trust. I have perused different chat rooms over the years, but it’s all the same and I can’t stand to engage with some of those people. I’d rather have my close knit group of friends I trust that understands and supports my desire to be a naturist.
Retirement can’t come soon enough can it? 🙂