Videoconference app, "Zoom" has become especially popular in the last few months during the stay at home orders for coronavirus. Zoom is used for school, business meetings, college informationals, concerts(?) etc. (you already know).
Recently however, "Zoombombing," incidents have been revealing the weak security of the platform. Incidents of zoombombing are usually internet trolls with harmless pranks, however, incidents of hateful speech and harassment have escalated on the platform. An example of this is when a user hacked into the conference call of the American Jewish Community in Paris and made racial remarks and additionally changed their background to a crude GIF (Source 1).
In addition to hateful speech, multiple issues of pornography have arisen. Users have a default setting in which they are able to screen share any content from their screen without permission from the host. As a result, in the popular singer, "Lauv's" public branded partnership meeting with "Chipotle," a user persistently shared extremely graphic images. When the user was blocked, they were able to easily create new accounts and enter again.
I didn't know about Zoom before quarantine, and that's probably because the platform was initially made with the intention of being used as an "enterprise technology tool, not a consumer social tool"(Source 2). Naturally, it has adapted into being both, and Zoom now is valued at 29 billion dollars. With Zoom's sharp rise and popularity, I'd like to see them use their money to revise and update the privacy settings of conference calls. Especially if the platform is being used nationwide in schools, screen sharing should be limited to only certain participants, and events should be made invitation only.
Questions:
1. Is there an alternative video conferencing platform that could be used instead of Zoom?
2. Should Zoom meetings be made invitation-only?
3. What are some other issues you face/in general with Zoom? (if any).
Sources:
Source 1
Source 2
10 comments:
I think there are a lot of alternative video call websites but all of them most likely have similar problems to Zoom. Especially during quarantine, people may do rash decisions that involve pranks and other inappropriate behavior on video calls. It's beneficial for Zoom that there are meeting IDs and passwords required, to limit unwanted members. I think that the racial slander Srishty mentioned is a disgusting way to take advantage of video conference calls, especially when these calls are absolutely necessary to avoid spreading Covid-19. I haven't found any issues with Zoom aside from connections although it is difficult to hear everyone when there are a lot of people one a single call.
As Grace said, there are tons of other video call platforms that can be used. However, speaking specifically for Zoom, I do think Zoom meetings should be made invitation-only; if it's a platform used for business, etc. If someone wants to go "live" they can do so on instagram, youtube, etc. There's no reason for Zoom to have this feature if it's a business-focused platform.
There are a few different options like Google Hangouts, however I think the same problems would arise whatever platform it was. People are bored and have a lot of time on their hands so I’m not super surprised that this is happening. Cyberbullying and situations like this have always existed, it just so happens that there is a new platform and a wider audience of people on the internet now. This, by no means, justifies or excuses what these people are doing and Zoom should take measures to reduce these instances. I also think a lot of us have never used Zoom before and are still trying to figure out how to use it, which also contribute to privacy issues like this. Having to put in a password or have the link to join a meeting are some features that Zoom already has that can be utilized more as we continue to adjust.
Like Olivia said, there's Google Hangouts. There are probably other platforms too but the other apps probably aren’t as well known and don’t have a good reputation or enough positive reviews. But I feel like with any video conference platform, the same issues will arise. I think Zoom meetings should definitely have more security, in terms of how people enter. I thought there was already a feature for the host to accept the people who enter the meeting. Maybe not everyone uses that feature or it’s only available for the premium accounts that need to be paid for. I think that feature should be used more. I don’t have many issues with Zoom but I have more issues with my wifi. When I’m connected to meetings, my wifi glitches and I am unable to hear what my teacher is saying because there are so many pauses. I have also gotten kicked off meetings so I had to rewatch the lesson on YouTube afterward.
Zoom does have methods of filtering unwanted people out, including but not limited to restricting users to those from a certain domain or a "waiting room" designed to allow only approved members in whether the attendee has a Zoom account or not. Discord is an option for video calling and screen sharing. Although it really is an all-purpose tool, it appears marketed towards gamers and as such people generally shy away from it. Pranksters are inevitable, however — you're always gonna get that one guy playing the John Cena theme over a Zoom call, Discord call, FaceTime, or other video calling service to blow everyone's ears out.
Zoom has been gaining crazy popularity especially in the last few months. I didn't have much of an issue with Zoom besides the normal static heard on any video-chat app. This was used for virtual days at college and it was used quite effectively. All the people were muted and questions could be asked through the chat, eliminating any weird pranks people might pull. This app is also free so having issues like random people joining can be minimized by paying for the premium version. Overall I think this app, though it may have some security issues for higher-level projects, is a great way to teach and also have a good time with friends since FaceTime is not android friendly.
I believe no matter what platform teachers use to teach students, there will always be trolls. The internet has always had trolls across the bandwidth of the internet. There are thousands of trolls, some being completely harmless while some being extremely inappropriate. Changing the platform will not solve any problems at all and trolling will continue as long as the internet exists. Adding more security can certainly prevent the number of zoom bombings but there are certainly going to be fans of these trolls that will give the password. Youtubers like NELK will definitely find a way around the password system and will most likely not resolve the situation. I believe most teachers will just have to be prepared for the worst and will have to tolerate the disturbances they might cause.
I agree, with the rising popularity of their software, Zoom should update their software. Perhaps they could have one version for their initial enterprise purpose, and another version for consumer use, in order to specialize the features necessary. However, some of the issues that are occurring could be avoided. Like Grace and Olivia mentioned above, the feature of password protected meetings could reduce the amount of Zoombombing that's happening. But it is one of the many features that can get lost in the sea of pre-meeting options, making it difficult to utilize. Perhaps if Zoom publicized their password protection feature more, their users could have safer meetings and reduce the amount of pranks happening.
While there are a couple other platforms, I think they all will face the same privacy issues. It's less a matter of changing platforms and more a matter of the software being updated. More encryption should be added so that outside users can't "break into" the meetings. Having invitations will help, and I think the addition of meeting leaders having to "accept" people into the zoom calls has been beneficial. This means that for meetings, people will have to be approved in order to join. In general, it will always be difficult to provide complete privacy just due to the ability of hackers. While there is definitely the issue of zoombombing and inappropriate pranks, I think it presents a larger issue for companies and organizations who now have to hold meetings through these softwares. They could be sharing sensitive information so it is really important for them to have a secure platform. Luckily, these platforms have been going through updates recently given the huge increase of users.
Like many others have stated, there are many other alternatives to zoom, many of which I'm sure have tighter security measures. However, I think the issue now is that Zoom is a relatively new communication platform and it wasn't really ready for the strain that something like the pandemic's online schooling would put on it. Perhaps in the interest of making video calling more smooth/more convenient there was a lack of attention on the security of the program. This is something that isn't new, as communication apps like Zoom and House party have been accused by some of having such lax security it has allowed hackers to steal information from their computers. People using House party have claimed that after using it they started seeing strange charges on debit/credit cards with no apparent source. While House party has since said that there is no definitive proof that security was broken in those cases, if is still a very relevant concern when so many people are using these programs.
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