Marco Polo is less a video call app and more a video sharing app. There are no real-time calls. Instead, users record and share videos (or texts or audio-only recordings)--called Polos--with people in their contacts. Record a video of you dancing with your dog. Upload it and leave it for your friend or family group. They'll hop on and view it when they have a moment and reply with a video of their own. Call, respond, Marco, Polo. Get it? Marco Polo has been around since 2014. Thanks to pandemic growth, some enthusiastic celebrity users like P!nk, Amy Poehler, and Ice T, and apparently the US state of Utah (which one report said has the app's biggest user base, who knew?), Marco Polo now has over ten million users worldwide.
Wat kin der barre as der wat misgiet?
Marco Polo seems to do an OK job protecting your privacy. It uses encryption in transit and at rest. It does not use stronger end-to-end encryption because they say they want to be able to retrieve those precious memories of yours stored on their servers if you happen to lose your phone. One thing that does worry us a little is how Marco Polo handles the deletion of those precious Polo videos. If you chose to delete your account, remember to delete all your Polos first, as it appears users aren’t able to delete these videos after you delete your account. And any Polos you don’t delete can remain accessible to other users. What's the worst that could happen? Well, we’d hate for that super embarrassing Polo you sent that one drunken night to remain available to dig up even after you delete your Marco Polo account. No one needs that stuff hanging around the internet forever.
Kin it my bespionearje?
Kamera
Apparaat: Net beskikber
App: Ja
Mikrofoan
Apparaat: Net beskikber
App: Ja
Folget lokaasje
Apparaat: Net beskikber
App: Ja
Wat is der nedich om jo oan te melden?
E-mailadres
Nee
Telefoannûmer
Ja
Account fan tredden
Nee
Hokker gegevens sammelet it bedriuw?
Persoanlike
Name, photo, mobile number, email, birth day and/or birth month, voice from video calls
Lichemrelatearre
Sosjale
Contacts, the content you create, including videos (or “Polos”), photos, short video clips you share with selected contacts (or “Scrapbook moments”), and text messages.
Hoe brûkt it bedriuw dizze gegevens?
Hoe kinne jo jo gegevens beheare?
Hoe stiet it bedriuw bekend as it giet om it beskermjen fan brûkersgegevens?
In the past, Marco Polo sent text message invitations from your phone to your top contacts without explicit permission. These invitations used your nickname from their contact list, thus personalising a message like "Hi bunny! Please download Marco Polo app, so that I can send you a video!"
Kin dit produkt offline brûkt wurde?
Brûkersfreonlike privacyynformaasje?
The privacy policy is written using overly abstract language, and it seems to hide the app's weaknesses behind legalese clauses.
Keppelingen nei privacy-ynformaasje
Foldocht dit produkt oan ús minimale befeiligingsnoarmen?
Fersifering
No end-to-end encryption, but encryption at rest and in transit.
Sterk wachtwurd
There is no password requirement in Marco Polo. To sign up, an SMS authentication is used.
Befeiligingsfernijingen
Marco Polo is updated weekly, and each update is annotated with what is new.
Beheart kwetsberheden
Vulnerabilities can be reported here https://www.marcopolo.me/vulnerability-policy/
Privacybelied
Brûkt it produkt AI?
Is dizze AI ûnbetrouber?
Hokker soarte fan besluten makket de AI oer jo of foar jo?
Is it bedriuw transparant oer hoe’t de AI wurket?
Hat de brûker kontrôle oer de AI-funksjes?
Djipper dûke
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Marco Polo has been around for years, but it’s blowing up amid the pandemicThe Verge
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Data Breach of the Week — Marco PoloAlly
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Someone knows something about this Marco Polo app that we don’tTechCrunch
Opmerkingen
Hawwe jo in reaksje? Lit it ús hearre.