- Until recently, you might
not have even heard of Zoom.
The video conferencing app
that millions of people
are using to stay in touch
with their friends and family.
It's grown immensely, basically overnight,
because of the pandemic
and people are hosting
all sorts of things on Zoom.
Some people are even
getting married on Zoom.
It's obviously a super
surreal time right now
and people are trying to find the easiest
and cheapest way to stay in touch
with their friends and family.
Zoom is super easy and cheap to use,
but that ease of use
might be coming at a cost.
Researchers and privacy
advocates are finding security
and privacy issues with Zoom on what feels
like a daily basis now.
Zoom could become a
victim of its own success
as it faces a privacy
and security backlash.
Now, to understand why
Zoom became so popular
so quickly you have to
understand how the app works.
Every Zoom call comes
with a nine to 11 digit
randomly generated code and participants
have to enter that code in
order to access a meeting.
That's super easy compared
to its competitors.
Skype for example requires
a long case sensitive,
alpha numeric password and FaceTime
requires having an Apple ID.
Zoom is definitely easier.
By default though, you can
jump into a Zoom meeting
with just that little ID number
or even a link and start
broadcasting your webcam
or the content of your screen
to anybody on the call.
Now, this makes Zoom sound ideal
and super easy to use, but it's also lead
to a phenomenon called Zoom bombing.
This is where pranksters
join Zoom meetings
from links that are posted publicly
and stream porn or other offensive videos.
It's shocking and terrible,
and especially bad when it
affects school aged children.
A lot of the privacy and security concerns
started with Zoom bombing,
but then, as researchers
dug deeper into the app,
they found more.
For one, they discovered Zoom
might have shared
information with Facebook.
That lead to two lawsuits against Zoom
and the attention of the office
of New York's Attorney
General which sent a letter
to the company to better
understand its security practices.
The FBI has also warned
about Zoom's default settings
and some companies are even
now starting to ban Zoom
as a result.
(mellow music)
These are just a couple of Zoom's privacy
and security issues.
So, why are people still using this app?
Well, it comes down to what
I was talking about earlier.
Zoom just works.
You can have an unlimited
number of meetings
and up to 100 people to
chat for free at a time.
This means, an entire
classroom can jump in
and do virtual meetings,
or groups of friends
can get together without paying anything.
Zoom also does a great
job with gallery view
on all those conference calls.
Its competitors sometimes make people look
like disjointed, floating heads.
At a time when everyone is
stressing about the pandemic,
people are going to
flock to whatever's free
and easiest to use.
And right now, that's Zoom.
Skype, the video calling
service we probably all remember
from 10 years ago also has a similar way
to hold video meetings,
but for a long time,
it was buried away and
most people didn't know
that feature existed.
Microsoft, since acquiring Skype,
has instead focused on
building its team's software
after years of letting Skype's reliability
and its user interface
become kind of questionable.
Houseparty has grown in popularity too
for many of the same reasons as Zoom.
Cisco Webex, StarLeaf, Whereby
and Google Hangouts are just
some solid alternatives to Zoom
and some rival services are
even lowering their free limits
to get more people using
their apps right now.
All these video apps
are good and different
in a variety of ways.
It's worth exploring and
seeing what's out there
and what you like the most.
Just know that Zoom
isn't your only option.
All right, so what is Zoom doing about all
of these privacy and security concerns?
The company is not rolling
out any new features
for 90 days to focus on
reviewing the problems
that researchers and
journalists have raised for one.
It's also now claiming that
the app was never designed
to be used by general consumers
or for the influx of people
who are using the app
in strange and wonderful ways.
And while that might be true,
the app is easy to use for everybody
regardless of whether
they're in an office or not.
Zoom now faces tough decisions
around its default user settings
and user's privacy concerns
and ultimately, how much
it's willing to give up
its ease of use.
Zoom might just have to tighten up aspects
of its app that made it
so appealing to consumers
and businesses in the first place.
Meanwhile, the rest of
us will have to decide
whether we're happy to
give up some privacy
for software that's free.
That's a familiar choice
that millions of people face
with services like Facebook, or Google
that are also popular and best in class.
The harsh reality is that
you either pay for an app
with cash or with your personal data
and that decision usually
comes down to trust.
Zoom needs to prove to
its millions of new users
that it can be trusted during a time
when they need it the most.
Hey, thanks for watching.
As always, stay tuned to The Verge.
We are pumpin' out videos to
keep you guys entertained.
Please stay safe and healthy.
And call your mom, call your friends,
talk over video chat.
It's gonna keep us all connected.
