Zoom
Contents
Zoom Features
Chat
Zoom allows users to send messages throughout the duration of the meeting. Users can send messages to individual participants or to everyone in the meeting.
Participants in the meeting have the opportunity to share their screen. This means that everyone else in the meeting can see what is on the person’s screen and follow along with whatever it is the person is doing/showing in real time. Participants, if granted permission, also have the ability to take control of the person who is sharing’s computer controls. This means they can control their mouse and keyboard, allowing them to directly interact with the person’s screen remotely from their own machine.
Record
Zoom meetings can be recorded and saved for viewing at a later time. Recordings can be started and stopped at any point and all participants have to agree to be recorded (if they don’t, they have the option to leave the meeting).
Polling
Hosts can launch single choice or multiple choice polls for their participants during meetings. Hosts can see the results and display them to the rest of the attendees during the meeting in addition to obtaining a report of the responses at the end of the meeting.
Reactions
Meeting participants have the option to display different reactions during the course of a meeting by clicking different emojis, including clapping, thumbs up, heart, laughing face, open mouth face and confetti. Participants can also alert the host to speed up or slow down or say “yes” or “no” to the host by hitting each button respectively. And, finally, participants can notify others that they may wish to speak by clicking the “raise hand” button.
Breakout Rooms
The host of the meeting can split the participants into breakout rooms. Each breakout room is essentially its own Zoom meeting and the host can close the breakout rooms and bring everyone back to the main call whenever. Participants can decide when they would like to leave the breakout room to return to the main call as well. When making the breakout rooms, the host can randomize the participants or put specific people in specific rooms. In addition, the host has the opportunity to give participants the chance to choose their own rooms by manually placing themselves into a room.
Waiting Room
Before the start of a meeting, a virtual “waiting room” is enabled for participants. In this room, participants can’t see other participants and are waiting to be admitted to the main room where the meeting actually takes place. The host has the ability to admit people into the main room one by one or all at once whenever they wish.
History of Zoom
Zoom was founded by Eric Yuan in 2011 and launched in January 2013. By May 2013, Zoom had one million participants.[2] Since then, the platform has grown and expanded its offerings to provide greater meeting capacity and duration. In January 2017, Zoom became a "Unicorn" after achieving a valuation of $1 billion.[3] In March 2019, Zoom went public at $36 per share. On the first day of trading, Zoom's stock price increased by over 72%.[4]
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom’s popularity rose greatly. Due to social distancing guidelines and lockdown orders, traditional in-person gatherings and activities were required to move online. This shift greatly benefited Zoom, which went from 10 million active users in late 2019 to 300 million active users by April 2020.[5]
Privacy Policy
According to its official privacy statement, Zoom is committed to protecting the privacy of its users. Zoom serves as a data controller as the party that determines what data to collect and why. The data that Zoom collects depends on user interaction. Zoom also obtains data from third parties. Zoom provides a table on data processing, including information about types of personal data collected, how they get the information, what they do with it, and legal basis. For example, users provide Zoom with their date of birth, full name, and email address when they register. This information is used for several purposes, to enroll users in services and display user information in meetings. Full information is available on the official Zoom website.[6]
When a user logs into a Zoom account, Zoom will ask to accept its use of cookies. Zoom utilizes cookies to enhance functionality of its site. Zoom also uses advertising cookies which are used by advertising companies to serve ads related to specific user interests.[7]
In March 2020, there were concerns by users and privacy experts about Zoom potentially collecting information from users’ meetings. According to its privacy policy, Zoom was able to use personal information for targeting ads on or off the platform, or for other business purposes.[8] As a result, Zoom updated its privacy policy to clarify details on data privacy. In a company blog post, Zoom’s Chief Operating Officer, Aparna Bawa, clarified that Zoom does not sell users’ data and it does not monitor meetings. In addition, the post clarified that no data regarding user activity on the Zoom platform- including video, audio, and chat content- is ever provided to third parties for advertising purposes.[9]
Zoom only shares personal data with companies, organizations, or individuals outside of Zoom under the following conditions: with consent, with contractual Zoom partners, for corporate transactions, for business purposes, and for legal purposes.
Ethical Implications
Furthering the Digital Divide in Education
The “digital divide” refers to the unequal access that different groups of people have to technology and the Internet.[10] One area impacted by the "digital divide" is online education. The quality of online education is heavily dependent on a student's internet connection.[11] Students lacking reliable internet connections are disadvantaged due to their inability to access and participate in their online classes. This gives an advantage to the students who have reliable, high-speed Internet as they will have better access to class materials and teachers. In addition, online education through Zoom is reliant on physical technology such computers, laptops, and tablets. Many families are unable to provide their school-age children with dedicated devices, and must instead share their devices among multiple family members. Students in such families often face difficulties logging onto their classes or submitting their schoolwork on time due to other family members denying them access to the limited supply of technological devices. According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, children from high-income households are twice as likely to have computer access than children from low-income households.[12] This "digital divide" places students living in low-income households at a disadvantage due to lack of devices and reliable Internet access.
Security & Privacy
With the rise of Zoom has also come the rise of “Zoom-bombing.” Zoom-bombing is when uninvited people join Zoom meetings for the sole purpose to disrupt and harass participants.[13] One example is when a virtual Holocaust memorial event was “bombed” by people showing photos of Adolf Hitler and yelling anti-Semetic phrases.[14] This has led to the discussion of privacy and security concerns with Zoom. With people using Zoom for everything from company meetings, to class, to family reunions, all types of personal and confidential information is being shared over Zoom. So, if people are able to enter any call they want, such as in a Zoom-Bombing attack, these people will have access to the information that is being shared on the call.
References
- ↑ Chawla, Ajay, Coronavirus (COVID-19) – ‘Zoom’ Application Boon or Bane (May 20, 2020).
- ↑ Chawla, Ajay, Coronavirus (COVID-19) – ‘Zoom’ Application Boon or Bane (May 20, 2020).
- ↑ Chawla, Ajay, Coronavirus (COVID-19) – ‘Zoom’ Application Boon or Bane (May 20, 2020).
- ↑ Chawla, Ajay, Coronavirus (COVID-19) – ‘Zoom’ Application Boon or Bane (May 20, 2020).
- ↑ Wiederhold, Brenda K. “Connecting Through Technology During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: Avoiding ‘Zoom Fatigue.’” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 23, no. 7, 2020, pp. 437–438., doi:10.1089/cyber.2020.29188.bkw.
- ↑ https://zoom.us/privacy?zcid=1231#_Toc44414835
- ↑ https://ethics.berkeley.edu/privacy-considerations-when-using-zoom
- ↑ https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/zoom-tightens-privacy-policy-says-no-user-videos-analyzed-for-ads/
- ↑ https://blog.zoom.us/zoom-privacy-policy/
- ↑ Gorski, Paul. “Education Equity and the Digital Divide.” Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2005.
- ↑ Oliveira Dias, Dr. Murillo, et al. “Will Virtual Replace Classroom Teaching? Lessons from Virtual Classes via Zoom in the Times of COVID-19.” Journal of Advances in Education and Philosophy, vol. 04, no. 05, 2020, pp. 208–213., doi:10.36348/jaep.2020.v04i05.004.
- ↑ Gorski, Paul. “Education Equity and the Digital Divide.” Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2005.
- ↑ Ling, Chen, et al. “A First Look at Zoombombing.” ArXiv.org, 8 Sept. 2020, arxiv.org/abs/2009.03822.
- ↑ Aiken, Adam. “Zooming in on Privacy Concerns: Video App Zoom Is Surging in Popularity. In Our Rush to Stay Connected, We Need to Make Security Checks and Not Reveal More than We Think.” Index on Censorship, vol. 49, no. 2, July 2020, pp. 24–27, doi:10.1177/0306422020935792.
