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Jitsi, the open-source video conferencing platform, now requires a Google, Microsoft, or Facebook account for their online service (jitsi.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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While Jitsi is open-source, most people use the platform they provide, meet.jit.si, for immediate conference calls. They have now introduced a "Know Your Customer" policy and require at least one of the attendees to log in with a Facebook, Github (Microsoft), or Google account.

One option to avoid this is to self-host, but then you'll be identifiable via your domain and have to maintain a server.

As a true alternative to Jitsi, there's jami.net. It is a decentralized conference app, free open-source, and account creation is optional. It's available for all major platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android), including on F-Droid.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@esaru

"One option to avoid this is to self-host, but then you’ll be identifiable via your domain and have to maintain a server."

Makes it a non issue.

It's free as in freedom not as in free beer and that's that.

Jitsi doesn't have to offer free service and they particularly don't have to provide anonymity.

The same is true for the fediverse, since the admins have info that could help identify users. That has it's uses too.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Jitsi remains free. As you can see, this isn't about money but rather about privacy, which has diminished compared to before.

The issue with centralized systems becomes more apparent: the provders are held accountable for their users' actions.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

@esaru @bmaxv @technology concur that this reduces privacy for users of Jitsi’s hosted service. It also has some concrete benefits for Jitsi - they get to outsource account validation and security. Perhaps they were struggling to contain abuse.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Privacy has not diminished, you can host your own instance of the jitsi software account-free and take on the liability of people using your server for child porn yourself if you want to.