US Senators Told to Stop Using Zoom
Zoom continues its struggle to convince everyone it is secure and private, but the video chat service just lost another set of users, this time at the United States Senate.
As Reuters reports, the US Senate has just advised all senators to stop using Zoom due to concerns over data privacy, but stopped short of issuing an all-out ban of the video conferencing app. Instead, the Senate expects senators to find an alternative service for video chat.
Zoom is coming under mounting pressure after seeing a huge surge in popularity following the coronavirus pandemic. Its user base is shrinking fast, though, mainly due to businesses and organizations banning its use. So far, SpaceX, New York City schools, the government of Taiwan, and even Google have banned the use of Zoom. There’s also the problem of Zoom-bombing, which the Feds have recently pointed out is a crime, not a joke. Thankfully you can prevent it from happening with a few settings tweaks.
In response to all the negative press and companies turning their backs on the service, Zoom decided to form an advisory board, hired former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos, and is being transparent via the company blog on regarding the security and privacy of its service, and what’s being done to bolster them.