Zoom.UP

With the DFNconf services (https://www.conf.dfn.de/), DFN-Verein has been offering its users in the science sector the opportunity to conduct audio, video and web conferences for many years. Due to the sharp increase in usage in recent weeks, these services experience major problems with connection set-up and transmission quality at peak times, which DFN-Verein is unable to compensate for in the short term despite an expansion of its capacities.

DFN-Verein, in collaboration with GÉANT, had already conducted a proof-of-concept for a highly scalable platform for video conferencing for meetings as well as for use in e-learning environments from autumn 2018 to the end of 2019. The findings prompted DFN-Verein, in coordination with other European NRENs (National Research and Education Networks), to approach Zoom Video Communications to resolve the current crisis. The aim was to achieve licensing of the Zoom product for all participants in the DFN. Zoom dealt with the request at the highest level, but refused at this stage to reach an agreement in the short term. However, a joint agreement with NRENs has been held out for the period after the current situation has been dealt with. DFN-Verein will therefore remain in close contact with other NRENs and Zoom to explore a perspective for future agreements.

As a consequence, DFN-Verein currently recommends that all participant institutions immediately provide their own solutions for video conferencing to conduct online teaching and virtual meetings.

Various legal principles apply to the processing of personal data associated with the use of Zoom, depending on whether you use Zoom as an employee, student or external user of the University of Potsdam. For more details, please refer to the privacy policy (in German). In accordance with the requirements of Article 13 of the Data Protection Regulation, this also contains all other information that is relevant for you as a Zoom user affected by the data processing.

In order to comply as far as possible with the principles of data minimisation and data security resulting from the GDPR when university members use Zoom, a series of data protection-friendly specifications are implemented in the Zoom instance of the UP. These guidelines cannot be changed by the organisers of a meeting.

In your Zoom.UP profile settings you will find the function "End-to-end (E2E) encrypted meetings" under the item Security.

You must activate this function. Thereafter, two follow-up settings are available:

•     Enhanced encryption: before the meeting you decide whether you want to transmit the meeting encrypted or not.
•     End-to-end encryption: from now on, all scheduled meetings will be E2E encrypted.

When using end-to-end encryption, some functions are not available. These concern:

•     the recording function in the cloud
•     the breakout sessions
•     emojis and hand signals and
•     private text chats

Participation in E2EE meetings by phone or via web browser is also not possible. Should participants wish to join the meeting via these means, E2E encryption must have been disabled by the host prior to the meeting.

On this page you find virtual backgrounds for your web conference with UP logo and motives.

It is not permitted to record the non-public spoken word of others without authorisation (§ 201 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 StGB). Since Zoom.UP meetings at the University of Potsdam are generally conducted in a non-public form, recording a meeting without the consent of the persons concerned may result in a violation of § 201 StGB. Furthermore, from a data protection perspective, a legal basis is also required for the recording of courses if they contain personal information of the participants.

For the legal assessment, we distinguish between three scenarios:

1.

You ensure that information of persons other than yourself (image, sound and text) is not recorded. Please point this out to the participants and follow our instructions on the recording process below. This recording scenario must be selected if attendance is compulsory for the course in accordance with § 5a Para. 2 BAMA-O or BAMALA-O in conjunction with the respective study or examination regulations. This is because the voluntary nature of the students' declarations of consent required for scenarios 2 and 3 would not be guaranteed in the case of an existing attendance obligation. Of course, in the case of events with compulsory attendance, recording can also be dispensed with completely.

2.

You also record the activities of the participants with the course.Before publication on Video.UP or Media.UP, the participants' personal information (audio and video streams, chat contributions if applicable) is removed or anonymised.

You need the consent of all participants before recording and you have to inform them about the recording and the processing of their data. Zoom.UP has technical possibilities to obtain this consent from the participants at the beginning of a recording. At present, it is not always possible to ensure that consent has been obtained before recording the contributions of the participants in the meeting. (For this reason and for reasons of verifiability, we recommend obtaining a declaration of consent from the participants in advance (Declaration of consent regarding the production of recordings of Zoom.UP meetings. With this declaration of consent, the students concerned will then also be provided with all the necessary - specific to the recording and publication - information on data protection. You can obtain this declaration of consent in writing or electronically (via e-mail or Moodle). Please keep the documents, the e-mail and the declaration with the name entered electronically.

3.

You record the activities of the participants with the course. The recording includes, in particular, requests to speak during the event, the video stream and, if applicable, chat contributions. This recording will be published on Video.UP or Media.UP. In this case, please use the UP_Declaration of Consent for the Production and Publication of Recordings of Zoom Meetings.pdf. Otherwise, please follow the other instructions for the 2nd scenario.

Important to know: This declaration of consent does not allow the participants themselves to make recordings or recordings. The declaration of consent only authorises the event leader (i. f. host) to record the event and make it available.

Please also note the general information on data protection at the University of Potsdam related to the use of Zoom: Data protection declaration

Preparing for recording

By making recordings, you take responsibility for the information and content recorded. In the document UP_Information on the recording function of Zoom.pdf you will find the settings for a legally compliant recording.

•     Before the actual conference, inform your participants about this document "UP_Information on the recording function of Zoom".
•     Start the Zoom.UP conference in advance and adjust the corresponding security settings if necessary (see above).
•     If active participation (audio or/and video) is desired, allow enough time for participants to select their camera and microphone settings. We recommend that you allow participants access to the waiting room before the actual start of the meeting. The waiting participants will only be admitted to the event after you have given your approval.
•     Please inform the participants that it is not permitted to make recordings or recordings.

Special preparation with participants' consent to recording

•     Formulate clearly and conclusively the purpose and whereabouts of the recordings.
•     Ask your potential participants to give their written consent to the recording, processing, storage and, if applicable, publication of the planned event if they might appear in it.
•     If participants do not want to give consent, ask them, in the interest of other students, not to participate in the live online meeting, but to watch the event afterwards on Video.UP or Media.UP.

During the recording

•     If participants want to actively participate via microphone / camera, assign the rights to use these devices on a personal basis.
•     You have the option of only allowing questions via chat and then responding to them. Since the recording of the chat can be suppressed, this approach makes it easier to edit the recording if necessary before publication.
•     Observe the legal regulations regarding the use of copyrighted material. https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/zfq/lehre-und-medien/online-lehre-2020/copyright-related-issues

After the recording

•     Only you have access to the recording. At the end of the meeting, inform the participants that they can still object to the publication of their own contributions.
•     Check whether content not intended for publication was recorded by mistake. These must be removed before further use.
•     Please also observe the copyright restrictions. Normally, the publication of the event recording should be limited to the respective course.