Zoom Boom

Due to COVID-19 and quarantine, the video communication software company, Zoom, has seen an exponential increase in their user base. On Sunday, the 12th of March, Zoom saw its largest increase of users in a single day, 600,000, and on Monday was rated as the top free iOS downloaded app. Founded in 2011, Zoom was originally developed as a videoconferencing platform and was not prepared for the large-scale use of schools, social gatherings, public forums, etc. Zoom’s default settings previously allowed anyone with link access to join a call and/or share their screen. This led to what has been termed “zoombombings,” when strangers enter a zoom call to write offensive comments and share pornographic or hateful images. At least three lawsuits have been made against Zoom. Since these reports of zoombombings and security concerns, Zoom has changed its default settings so that people need a password to join a meeting and can only enter a call with permission by the host. Others are concerned with Zoom routing its data through China. However, with an update coming March 18th, free users will have their calls routed through local region-based data centers and paid users will have the ability to choose which region their calls are routed through.

While privacy breaches are concerning, these types of situations encourage software improvements and better security measures. I am interested in what the prevalence of video services will be after the pandemic is over, if it will go back to how it was before or if video services and teleworking will become more frequent and normalized. I suspect the latter.

“Technology shapes society, and society shapes technology.” – Robert Winthrop White