FHDC Set To Use Zoom Despite Data Being Sent To China
Folkestone & Hythe District Council are set to use Zoom, the video conferencing software, to conduct its virtual meetings. As we understand Cllrs have been asked to participate in training for Zoom this week. This is despite experts such as Arvind Narayanan, an associate computer science professor at Princeton University, making it very clear that “Zoom is malware.”
Other Security researchers reported vulnerabilities in Zoom users’ Windows and Mac computers, confirmed some user data was being sent to China, and found Zoom video recordings exposed in an unsecured cloud database online.
The CEO of Zoom Eric Yuan said last Wednesday (01/04/20) said
-
“Over the next 90 days, we are committed to dedicating the resources needed to better identify, address, and fix issues proactively.”
meaning of course, the issues identified by computer experts and security researchers remain. Yet despite all these warnings; and the fact that the CEO has said the fix will take 90 days, Folkestone & Hythe District Council are still intent on using Zoom, even though data goes to China.
There is other video conferencing software available such as Slack, Wire or Microsoft Teams, but the Council has chosen not to use them.
SecurityWeek raise significant issues about whether Zoom is in fact GDPR compliant. Tara Taubman-Bassirian, a French-born, London-based lawyer and privacy advocate has said about Zoom:
-
“With the lack of transparency, the host holds many capabilities that are unknown to the participant, such as recording and further broadcasting. This is a clear breach of GDPR.”
WTF! Who is advising them on IT security? A five year old!
Will the public be forced to use Zoom to participate in the meetings, if so what legal comebacks might there be against the Council if public data leaks?
Could always ask Tara Taubman-Bassirian, a French-born, London-based lawyer to get involved given that Shepwayvox Team has highlighted the flaws.
Hi vox a bit of information about zoom 4 hours ago BBC news on app (10/01/20) reporting of school lessons at home in Asia with zoom were interrupted by photos of porn then girls are asked to strip.
See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52240251
We also note New York Schools have stopped using it. Plus Space X (Elon Musk’s company) Tesla Inc, Google and the US Senate, the Govt of Taiwan
See: https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-04-07/new-york-city-tells-teachers-to-stop-using-zoom-for-distance-learning
See: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/elon-musk-s-spacex-bans-zoom-over-privacy-concerns–memo-12600566
See: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8203523/U-S-Senate-tells-members-avoid-Zoom-data-security-concerns-FT.html
See: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/zoom-hopes-to-win-back-clients-who-banned-app-on-privacy-worries
See: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/zoom-sued-for-fraud-over-privacy-security-flaws-1.1418803
If that’s not warning enough, well good luck FHDC.