Zoom reaches $85 million lawsuit settlement over user privacy issues

Video conferencing firm, Zoom has agreed to settle a privacy lawsuit for $85 million. The announcement about the class-action US privacy lawsuit settlement was made on August 1, Sunday. According to the lawsuit, Zoom has been charged with sharing personal user data with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. Following this, a privacy break charge was slapped on the videoconferencing app, Zoom Cloud Meeting. It is a proprietary video teleconferencing software is a program developed by Zoom Video Communications launched in 2012.

The Zoom app spokesperson, while speaking to an agency denied the privacy breach. However, he admitted that the company needed to improve the security practices within the company. Talking about the advancements made on the video conferencing platform, the spokesperson told that innovation of privacy and security in the forefront.

According to the preliminary statement released by the videoconferencing platform, the company is listed to make a non-revisionary cash find of $85 million to pay the claims, notice, and administration costs. The payments would be made under the guidelines of the Service Payments to Class Representatives, and any attorneys' fees and costs awarded by the Court. The settlement is due to be approved by the US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California. As per reports, all class members are eligible to make payment, it said.

Zoom security breach a repeated concern

Zoom Privacy Policy is a simple and clear version of the fact that online meeting service has "shifted from a primarily enterprise-focuser product to one that is also used broadly by individuals," during COVID-19. According to Tomsguide, dozens of security breaches occurred since the inception of the software program, which created a backlash against the videoconferencing platform earlier during the pandemic.

In April 2021, Zoom exhibited a major flaw in its security system after it allowed hackers to hijack PCs and MACs during Zoom cloud meetings. In March 2021, Zoom faced another flak for giving out too much. Researchers observed that the participants could view more than the shared screen, which gave space to let out potentially sensitive information. In February, Zoom's Keybase encryption preservation of images even after they were deleted by the user. In a major one in December, a Zoom executive, Jin Xinjiang, aka Julien Jin, was accused of being a Chinese spy. Jin allegedly had help from unnamed co-conspirators who created fake email accounts and Zoom accounts in the names of known Chinese dissidents "to fabricate evidence that the hosts of and participants in the meetings to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre were supporting terrorist organizations, inciting violence, or distributing child pornography."

The cloud conferencing app has continued to suffer several security threats. Even though Zoom has managed to fix a lot of problems, several issues still remain unresolved, the Tomsguide report added.

(Image input: @IyusSugiharto/Unsplash)