‘Make sure that you use a pseudonym on all documents you share with me.’

When you’re a relationships coach for C-suite leaders at high-profile tech companies, privacy and security are of extreme concern. And when the subject of conversation is intimacy, even more so.

‘Like Albert Einstein or something. Yeah, call me Albert Einstein,’ he insisted.

And so it was.

Dating has moved into cyberspace – the lockdown commands online connection as a first port-of-call in getting to know someone. And increasingly, as a 2nd and 3rd and 4th as the weeks in ‘isolation’ roll by.

Zoom dates are the new norm. And as things heat up, intimacy moves online as well.

Sexting is the new language of love. And video dates become more and more steamy over time.

I’ve pulled together this guide to protect your privacy online.

So you don’t have to call yourself Albert…unless you really want to.

Safe sexy Zoom room for your date

How to stay safe and secure on a Zoom date so you can relax and enjoy it.

Be the one to host the Zoom meeting and...

Use a plain wall or Virtual Background to protect anonymity
Chat Auto-Saving Off
Keep updating the Zoom app whenever you can for the latest security updates
Never use our personal meeting ID, instead allow Zoom to create a random number for each meeting
Require a meeting password
- And we check the sharing link to be sure it doesn’t contain it if posting publicly
- “Copy Invitation” functionality might include your meeting password
- We look out for an unusually long URL with a question mark in it, which indicates it includes our meeting password.
Never ever use your Facebook sign-in
Do not share the link or the meeting ID on public platforms
Set screen sharing to "host only"
Disable file transfer
Disable "join before host"
Disable "allow removed participants to rejoin"
“Attention Tracking” Off
Further reading: https://sextechguide.com/privacy/zoom-bedroom-safe-secure-privacy/
Recommendations from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org)

Sexting privacy:

What to look out for: Secure = strong end-to-end encryption

No one can see what you share during a call.

If someone intercepted your messages, or found them on a server somewhere, they would see gibberish, not the actual text of a conversation.

Signal

Most Secure Overall

1:1 Video + Messaging platform

Signal is also open-source, peer-reviewed, and routinely audited, which means it’s pretty much always up to date from a security standpoint.

Consider other platforms

These other platforms for video / chatting are also secure.

Zoom has had privacy challenges in the past so do your homework and go with what feels best to you.