Skip to main content

Zoom agrees to pay whopping settlement fee over ‘zoombombing’ and privacy

Zoom, the company behind the popular videoconferencing software of the same name, has agreed to pay $85 million to settle a lawsuit regarding its privacy and security practices.

The suit was brought by users who accused California-based Zoom of sharing their data with third-party companies such as Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn without permission, as well as lax security that led to so-called “zoombombing” incidents where trolls would suddenly drop shocking images or other distasteful content into meetings.

Related Videos

The settlement, announced on Saturday, still needs the approval of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, but assuming it goes through, Zoom customers can expect to receive a 15% refund on a portion of their subscription fee or $25, whichever is greater. Zoom subscribers outside of the suit could receive a payment of up to $15.

Besides the payment, the terms of the settlement also require Zoom to put in place more robust security measures and provide Zoom employees with special training geared toward improving privacy measures and data handling, Reuters reported.

A number of class-action complaints were brought against Zoom in the spring of 2020 over zoombombing incidents and alleged malpractice. Zoom tried to persuade the court to throw out the suits, and while the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California agreed to dismiss some, it consolidated the remaining ones into a single lawsuit at the center of the agreement announced at the weekend.

Commenting on the case, Zoom said, “The privacy and security of our users are top priorities for Zoom, and we take seriously the trust our users place in us.”

Highlighting a series of software updates issued last year in a bid to block zoombombing attacks, as well as changes that it made to address privacy and security concerns, the company added, “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.”

Before the pandemic, Zoom’s videoconferencing software, which launched in 2012, was largely confined to the workplace. But as a rapid spread in coronavirus infections in early 2020 forced many people to stay home, Zoom downloads quickly went off the charts, with millions around the world using it not only for remote working, but also to stay in touch with friends and family. The sudden uptick in users appeared to take the company by surprise, with the increase in demand exposing software vulnerabilities while at the same time shining a light on its broader operations.

Editors' Recommendations

Save $950 on this Alienware gaming PC with an RTX 3080
The Alienware Aurora R10 Ryzen Edition Gaming Desktop, placed on a desk.

Dell continues its reign of offering some of the best gaming PC deals with a great discount on the Alienware Aurora R14 Gaming PC. It's usually priced at $2,450 but for a limited time, you can buy it for $1,500 meaning a huge saving of $950. As always with Dell deals, this one won't stick around for very long so if you're looking for a new gaming rig, you'll need to hit the buy button pretty fast. Before you do that, here's a quick rundown of what to expect from it.

Why you should buy the Alienware Aurora R14 Gaming PC
Alienware is a familiar name for anyone seeking out the best gaming PCs thanks to it knowing exactly what to do to get the most from gaming hardware. The Alienware Aurora R14 Gaming PC has an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor, 16GB of memory and 1TB of SSD storage. The highlight is its powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card with 10GB of dedicated VRAM to ensure you can play anything you could want and all at high-quality levels. The Aurora R14 chassis includes a solid panel and air cooling with a 50% increase to internal volume so that it has quieter acoustics and better accessibility too. A toolless design means you can easily upgrade the components if you need to, not that you'll have to any time soon.

Read more
This popular gaming laptop with an RTX 3050 Ti is surprisingly cheap
A person using the Asus TUF F15 gaming laptop.

One of the best laptop deals for gaming and is over at Best Buy. You can buy the Asus TUF Gaming A15 gaming laptop for $800 with a chunky saving of $280 compared to its usual price of $1,080. One of the best gaming laptop deals around for anyone on a budget but still keen to game, let's take a quick look at why the Asus TUF Gaming A15 gaming laptop is worth it. Remember -- it won't stay this price forever.

Why you should buy the Asus TUF Gaming A15 gaming laptop
The Asus TUF Gaming A15 gaming laptop won't rival the very best gaming laptops but that's hardly surprising at this price. What it does offer is great value for money. It has an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor along with 8GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage. More memory would definitely be useful in a gaming laptop but everything else is pretty good. For the graphics card, there's an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti card which means you'll be able to play most games provided you don't mind adjusting the detail level a little with the more high-end ones. Paired with that is the laptop's 15.6-inch full HD screen with a 144Hz refresh rate. It features adaptive sync to cut down on screen tearing so you can play speedy games without an issue.

Read more
Good news — Nvidia’s RTX 4070 might not be a lost cause after all
The RTX 4070 Ti graphics card on a pink background.

We've got some tentative good news on Nvidia's upcoming RTX 4070 -- it might not be as expensive as it was originally assumed. While Moore's Law Is Dead claimed the GPU would cost at least $750, today's scoop shows that the YouTuber may have been wrong.

A new report tells us that Nvidia will set the price of the RTX 4070 to $600. That would be much more reasonable, but will the card's performance be impressive enough to make it rank well among the best GPUs in 2023?

Read more