WASHINGTON –
Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, said this week that free videoconferences will be held soon on Meet, making this tool, until now only for companies, a great rival for Zoom and other applications eager to capture users in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. .
Google Meet is available through the address meet.google.com, as well as through its applications for iOS and Android.
According to a statement published in Google’s Blog in Spanish, they emphasize the security protection that the platform has and add that Meet data is not used for advertising or to sell data to third parties.
Although the company will gradually open Meet in the coming weeks, users will be able to start signing up. Google has offered free video conferencing for almost 12 years through Hangouts, but its popularity declined as it was considered outdated from a security and technological point of view.
The company also maintains Duo, a video calling application only accessible via smartphones.
Smita Hashim, Google’s director of product management, said in an interview that the company recommends that consumers use Meet before Hangouts.
“Since COVID has had an impact on everyone’s life, we felt there was a reason to bring something developed to business first for everyone,” he said, referring to COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. “It is a safer, more reliable and modern product.”
Calls through Meet go through Google’s servers, allowing you to offer automatic captions, troubleshoot, and comply with legal privacy requirements. But such calls will not be stored. Businesses and schools will have exclusive access to the recording of meetings and other options.
(With information from Reuters)
