Zoom sued for security failures, so it’s time for Apple to open source FacetTime

Zoom Video Communications, the video conference service and de facto platform for digital communication during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been hit with a proposed class action claiming the platform has failed to protect users’ personal information, according to Law360. So maybe it’s time for Apple to finally open source FaceTime.

Robert Cullen of Sacramento sued the company in California federal district court, saying Zoom has violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, Consumers Legal Remedies Act and Consumer Privacy Act by collecting and disclosing personal information to third parties like Facebook “upon installing or upon each opening of the Zoom app,” according to the complaint.

Too bad Apple never kept their promise of opening up FaceTime for the world. I and other professionals I know are using the technology (audio and video) in business. (During his 2010 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, then-CEO Steve Jobs said, “We’re going to the standards bodies, starting tomorrow, and we’re going to make FaceTime an open industry standard.”)

There’s an opportunity for business level functionality if the technology was opened up. Apple needs to rely on all computers — Window PCs and Android devices included — to support the software in order for it to really become the revolutionary offering Apple has made it out to be.

The tech that FaceTime is built on is a collection of open source and licensed tech that Apple does a great job of tying together. All Apple really has to do is to release their code and any licensing dependancies and let the third parties work out any licensing issues — if they have any.