HomeNewsZoom pays $86 million to resolve a class-action privacy complaint in the...

Zoom pays $86 million to resolve a class-action privacy complaint in the United States

-

Last Updated on 17/10/2021 by Sanskriti

Zoom was accused of invading the privacy of millions of users by exchanging personal information with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn, according to the lawsuit.

It also accused Zoom of misrepresenting its end-to-end encryption capabilities and failing to prevent “zoo bombing” sessions.

Although the company denied any wrongdoing, it has committed to improving its security procedures.

The preliminary settlement is still pending approval by US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, and includes a stipulation that Zoom would provide its employees with specialized training in data handling and privacy.

“The privacy and security of our users are top priorities for Zoom, and we take seriously the trust our user’s place in us, ” a Zoom spokesman said.

“We are proud of the advancements we have made to our platform, and look forward to continuing to innovate with privacy and security at the forefront.”

The class-action lawsuit, which was filed in March 2020 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, is one of the numerous legal issues that the US-based video-conferencing company is experiencing.

The complaint was filed on behalf of Zoom Meetings paying customers as well as free users across the United States.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys claim that US Zoom users produced $1.3 billion in revenue for the video-conferencing company.

Subscribers in the class action would be entitled to 15 percent refunds on their subscriptions or $25, whichever is greater if the proposed settlement is accepted, while others might get up to $15.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys want to sue Zoom for $21.3 million in legal costs.

In March, the video-conferencing company urged the court to dismiss the motion.

Judge Koh, on the other hand, merely dismissed a portion of the complaint involving invasion of privacy and carelessness, allowing the plaintiffs to pursue certain contract-related claims.

Security Concerns

The phenomenon of “Zoombombing” occurrences, in which unwanted people interrupt meetings to cause issues, is one major reason why several firms have decided to cease utilizing the platform.

During the coronavirus shut down in April of last year, a hacker broke into a virtual Chipotle event and streamed pornography to hundreds of guests, According to the New York Times.

Zoom has also been chastised for security issues, such as a weakness that allowed an attacker to remove guests from meetings, fake user communications, and take control of shared displays. Another case included Mac users being pushed into calls without their consent.

Furthermore, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs claimed that the platform misrepresented its encryption technology, transport encryption, as end-to-end encryption.

Instead of the meeting’s participants being the only ones who can decrypt messages, Zoom can view the video and audio of meetings.

However, according to the BBC, Zoom has spent a significant amount of time updating its app to address security and privacy issues, including the addition of end-to-end encryption and more than 100 privacy, safety, and security improvements since April 2020.

Sanskriti
Sanskriti
Sanskriti loves technology in general and ensures to keep TheDigitalHacker audience aware of the latest trends, updates, and data breaches.
- Advertisment -

Must Read

Data Science Drives Personalized Marketing and Customer Engagement to New Heights...

0
Personalized marketing and customer engagement are crucial for businesses to thrive in the current digital era. Because data science makes it possible for marketers...