STOP using ZOOM or risk being WATCHED by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
By Anonymous | June 16, 2022
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Zoom, an American success story or quasi-spy agency to the CCP? Since its popularity, thanks to COVID, Zoom has terminated American users’ account by behest of the CCP, routed American users’ data through china, and has enjoyed an investigation by the Department of Justice.
Background
Unless you have lived under a rock, you have heard about Zoom, right? A video chatting app that was started in 2011 by a Chinese native in the United States and is headquartered in San Jose, California. It exploded in popularity during the COVID era, where it went from obscurity to a household name. Sounds like the quintessential American dream. However, behind the façade of a Silicon Valley success story, Zoom has some very disturbing secrets. The app has already been banned by NASA, SpaceX, Taiwan, New York City’s Department of Education, and many more. You may ask why?
Zoom capitulates to Chinese censorships
So why is Zoom Controversial?
In 2020, US federal prosecutors launched an investigation about Zoom Executives working with the Chinese Communists party to “surveil users and suppress video calls.” Justice Department hinted that the Americans’ accounts who were doing a video call about the 1989 Tianmen massacre were terminated. This does not sound appetizing, does it? Imagine being an American, performing a zoom call from the US to advocate for democracy only for your account to get terminated. What was Zoom’s response to these allegations you may ask? We “..will no longer allow requests from the Chinese government to affect users outside mainland China,” said the company.
In another case, in 2021, Zoom agreed to pay $86m for a lawsuit in the US for shortcomings in its security practices. This lawsuit was brought up against Zoom due to “Zoombombing,” which happens when a hacker enters a Zoom meeting to create trouble. At this point, you may wonder that surely Zoom has changed and updated its privacy policies due to these shortcomings.
Should you still use Zoom in 2022?
Red Flags in Zoom’s Privacy Policy
Like most tech companies, Zoom collects both active and passive data on its users and use them for marketing purposes. Nothing out of ordinary here in comparison to other tech companies. However, they also collect Meeting and Messaging content. In other words, any and all content generated in a meeting is being collected, such as audio, video, messages, and chats. Basically, everything you say is being stored passively. Shocking, right? Wrong! Here is the kicker. Under their “Legal Reasons” section, Zoom says that they will share personal information with government agencies if required. Keep in mind that the CCP is a government agency. At this point, you may argue that your data may not be stored in China, so, therefore, the CCP will not have access to your data. Wrong! In 2020, Zoom admitted that “calls got mistakenly routed through China.” Conveniently, Zoom did not say how many users were affected. Even more conveniently, all companies in China are required by law to give the CCP access to user data. So what guarantees us that the CCP did not store users’ data while it was being routed through China? Oh and to add the cherry on top, Zoom of course has “taken” precautions for this mistake not to happen again.
Despite, all these red flags, unfortunately, most academic institutions, including prestigious universities like Berkeley, and American companies, still, primarily use Zoom as their main source of communication. This needs to stop. I recommend that Zoom be forced to sell its American branch to another American company or sever its ties completely with its Chinese branch.
References
Bloomberg. (n.d.). Bloomberg.com. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/eric-s-yuan/#:~:text=Eric%20Yuan%20was%20born%20on,University%20of%20Mining%20and%20Technology.
Video conferencing, web conferencing, webinars, screen sharing. Zoom. (2022, April 19). Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://explore.zoom.us/en/about/
Vigliarolo, B., Staff, T. R., Wolber, A., Whitney, L., Pernet, C., Alexander, M., & Combs, V. (2020, April 9). Who has banned zoom? Google, NASA, and more. TechRepublic. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://www.techrepublic.com/article/who-has-banned-zoom-google-nasa-and-more/
Harwell, D., & Nakashima, E. (2020, December 19). Federal prosecutors accuse Zoom Executive of working with Chinese government to surveil users and suppress video calls. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/18/zoom-helped-china-surveillance/
BBC. (2021, August 1). Zoom settles US class action privacy lawsuit for $86M. BBC News. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58050391
Privacy. Zoom. (2022, April 5). Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://explore.zoom.us/en/privacy/
Wood, C. (2020, April 6). Zoom admits calls got ‘mistakenly’ routed through China. Business Insider. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/china-zoom-data-2020-4
Bradley A. Thayer, opinion contributor. (2021, January 7). For Chinese firms, theft of your data is now a legal requirement. The Hill. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/532583-for-chinese-firms-theft-of-your-data-is-now-a-legal-requirement/
Image credit:
Josh, it, N. buying, Summers, J., Anon, Ruelas, R., Andy, Pedro, P., mchardy, C., Thom, Ray, & E, A. (2022, February 3). Should you still use Zoom in 2022? (hint: Security is not an issue anymore). All Things Secured. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://www.allthingssecured.com/tips/stop-using-zoom/