Is it against the Zoom ToS for multiple people to log in to one zoom account?

[JoeFilmmaker]

Hi

 I know of many small groups that rotate HOST responsibilities between people by sharing a zoom account’s username/password amongst them. Is this legal? My group would like to do this but we don’t want to violate Zoom’s ToS. I’ve gotten conflicting responses from Zoom support.  @Bort  - can you enlighten us about this?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

[Bort]

Hi @JoeFilmmaker 

I was always told one thing, but let me check on this and get back to you with a confirmed answer. 

[Bort · Accepted solution]

Hi @JoeFilmmaker 

I've checked and our Terms of Service do indeed prohibit shared subscriptions: 
"A Host subscription may not be shared or used by anyone other than the individual assigned to be a Host."

I am not sure how rigorously this is enforced and how such things as shared inboxes and generic email accounts are handled, as those generally used by a number of employees. 

[JoeFilmmaker]

Thanks @Bort! I must agree that the ToS part you've found seems pretty clear on that. Which is odd since several people in Support - after going off to check on this - have come back and told me that, as far as sharing the Host's username/password amongst several people, "it's your choice if you want to share it, hence it is not Zoom's responsibility if there will be unnecessary changes to your account. We don't recommend it, however, we have no control over your decision. "

I kind of WANT to buy the small business account that comes with ten licenses rather than sharing the username/password of one license but - as far as I can tell - it's looking more complicated to do so, either requiring Zoom users to merge their personal accounts with our charitable org's Zoom account or create new Zoom accounts along with new emails. Is there an easier way that I'm not seeing?

[Bort]

Correct, you are sorta limited to using existing users or creating new users.

You might not need to create new email addresses if you colleagues have email addresses that support aliases, such as Gmail. This means that I can receive emails addressed to both the standard version of my email (bort@ zoom.us) and any variation followed by a + (Bort+1 @ zoom.us), which most systems count as 2 separate and distinct email addresses. This would allow you to create a new user profile based on their existing emails (Bort+1 @ zoom.us), without interfering with their existing Zoom account (bort@ zoom.us). 

Hope that helps, but let me know if you have any other questions. 

[JoeFilmmaker]

Thanks. I was actually planning to use the gmail hack for anyone with a gmail address.

One other question while we're here... is there any harm or irreversibility to merging someone's personal account with a small business account? Can I unmerge it and restore it back to its pristine state, say for merging into some other account to which they might want to attach?

[Alex_PFT]

You can invite people to your account yes, and later on if they want to leave to be on their own again that is also possible. 

 

Unlinking a user from your account allows them to maintain their Zoom account, including existing settings, meetings, webinars, and cloud recordings, if these are not moved to another user and necessary licenses are applied after unlinking. After being unlinked from your account, users will need to purchase the necessary licenses on their new account. 

Deactivating, unlinking, or deleting users from your account – Zoom Support

Alex

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[JoeFilmmaker]

BTW - turns out you can CREATE accounts with, say, *********** and *********** but you can't change the email address using the admin tools from *********** to any form of *********** as it'll say email address already in use.

The email rules for creation and update don't match.

I've used zoom.us/feed to submit this as a behavior I "don't like."