- 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.
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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.