Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Are You Really Muted?: A Privacy Analysis Of Mute Buttons In Video Conferencing Apps, Yucheng Yang, Jack West, George K. Thiruvathukal, Neil Klingensmith, Kassem Fawaz

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the post-pandemic era, video conferencing apps (VCAs) have converted previously private spaces — bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens — into semi-public extensions of the office. And for the most part, users have accepted these apps in their personal space, without much thought about the permission models that govern the use of their personal data during meetings. While access to a device’s video camera is carefully controlled, little has been done to ensure the same level of privacy for accessing the microphone. In this work, we ask the question: what happens to the microphone data when a user clicks the …