Zoom to pay an $85 million settlement over user privacy “Zoombombing” and data security claims

After a year and a half of hard-fought and controversial lawsuits, and months of concurrent settlement negotiations, the Parties present the Court with an agreement to settle Plaintiffs’ claims against Zoom Video Communications, Inc.

(“Zoom”) on a nationwide, class basis. Communications Inc (ZM.O) agreed to pay $85 million and reinforce its security practices to settle the lawsuit claiming it violated users’ privacy rights by sharing personal data with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn, and letting hackers disrupt Zoom meetings in a practice called Zoombombing, where outsiders hijack Zoom meetings and display pornography, use racist language or post disturbing content. 

Plaintiffs allege that Zoom: (i) shared certain information with third parties, (ii) should have done more to prevent unwanted meeting disruptions by third parties, (iii) advertised its Zoom Meetings App as being encrypted “end-to-end” when Plaintiffs contend it was not at that time, and (iv) that the alleged conduct violated California state and federal laws. 

Who is included in the settlement

Persons in the United States who registered, used, opened, or downloaded the Zoom Meetings App, other than through an Enterprise-Level Account or Zoom for Government Account, between March 30, 2016, and July 30, 2021, are eligible for 15% refunds on their core subscriptions or $25, whichever is larger, while others could receive up to $15. 

Zoom agrees to make changes to its security and privacy practices

As part of the settlement, Zoom also agreed to a number of changes to its privacy and security practices, such as agreeing to implement security features, such as waiting rooms for attendees, a “suspend meeting activities” button, blocking users from specific countries, and alerting users when third-party apps are used in a Zoom meeting.

Zoom also would be required to develop and maintain a documented process for communicating with law enforcement about meeting disruptions involving illegal content, including dedicated personnel to report serial meeting disrupters to law enforcement.

In addition, Zoom agreed to implement a user-support ticket system for the internal tracking of and communication with users about reports of meeting disruptions.

The proposed settlement also focuses on consumer education.

Specifically, Zoom agreed to:(1) better educate users about the security features available in the app to protect meeting security and privacy; (2) ensure its privacy statement discloses Zoom users’ ability to share user data with third parties via third-party integration software and to otherwise record and/or transcribe meetings; and (3) maintain on its website centralized information and links for parents whose children use school-provisioned K-12 accounts.

Why you need to switch to a more secure video conference platform

As working from home is becoming the new norm, and both internal and external meetings are taking place virtually more than ever, organizations are evaluating video conferencing systems and remote collaboration solutions.

Following the news about security vulnerabilities with Zoom, Pravica is the right choice for those who choose privacy and security.

Built on Blockchain technology, Pravica guarantees user privacy and security, the conveyance of data, and eliminates the possibility of human or machine access to any data.

Because the data is distributed in a decentralized network, Pravica users don’t have accounts; they have their own decentralized identities, where every single communication activity is encrypted by users’ own keys.