Coronavirus surveillance concerns ramp up pressure for privacy bill

The Senate sergeant at arms has sent a memo to senators this week warning them against using the video conferencing service Zoom for work calls, citing security concerns, the Financial Times reported.

The memo did not specifically require senators to stop using the platform, which has been plagued by privacy and security problems over the past two weeks, but recommended using alternative video conferencing services.

The sergeant at arms did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the report.

A Zoom spokesperson told The Hill that the company was “in communication with US Senate offices and focused on providing the information they need, including about our tailored Zoom for Government offering, which is hosted in a separate cloud and meets the particular specifications of FedRAMP security policies, to make informed decisions about their policies.”

The spokesperson emphasized that the company “is committed to ensuring the privacy, security and trust of its service for all our users.”

Zoom boom: Members of Congress and individuals worldwide have flocked to Zoom during the coronavirus pandemic for work meetings, school classes or social gatherings. The platform reported a huge boost in daily users last month, with 200 million using Zoom every day as compared to 10 million in December.

But plenty of problems, too: Zoom has also faced a backlash over a multitude of security and privacy vulnerabilities, including issues that have led to hackers or other individuals being able to access and disrupt meetings through “Zoom bombings.” Multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed against the company as well amid revelations that Zoom shares user data with third parties including Facebook.