No doubt, Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing app. After the widespread eruption of COVID-19 across the world, schools have adopted Zoom video conferencing platform to disperse education among their students. The simplicity of usage coupled with a wide set of features makes Zoom an excellent tool for education. However, the video conferencing app is plagued with security vulnerabilities like Zoom Bombing. There are reports that nude pictures appear during conversations.
You should note that Zoom has been banned in over 20 countries. There are rumors that the Government of India is mulling to ban Zoom because of the widespread security vulnerabilities. Moreover, a petition has been filed on the Supreme Court urging them to ban Zoom due to privacy and data security issues.
The court has issued notice to the Central Government asking them to file a reply within the next four weeks. The court seeks clarity on the privacy and data security grounds. The Government will most likely seek an explanation from Zoom to provide clarifications to the queries.
Even though the Government has termed the Zoom app highly unsafe, the chances of banning the app are less since it will send bad signals. Moreover, the Zoom app is currently used by schools and colleges across India. If the app is banned, then it will lead to the stoppage of their classes, which will ultimately hinder their carrier prospects. The relevance of Zoom app ban request assumes importance with the imminent launch of the JioMeet app.
We are not sure as to whether Zoom will be slapped with a ban in India. The move is unlikely to happen but the Zoom app has been banned in the following countries and regions due to regulatory reasons.
- Belarus
- Burundi
- Central African Republic
- Cuba
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Iran
- Iraq
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Mali
- Nicaragua
- North Korea
- Pakistan (Zoom Phone)
- Somalia
- Sudan and Darfur
- South Sudan
- Syria Sanctions
- Ukraine (Crimea Region)
- United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Venezuela
- Yemen
- Zimbabwe
According to the company sources, several VoIP-based communications services have been facing service disruptions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to blocks by UAE ISPs such as du and Etisalat. These two ISPs have banned all services that they are not selling. This means both du and Etisalat will only promote those products which they sell. Zoom is currently working towards to explore all options to restore full VoIP service in these regions. The company also working with Pakistan authorities to make available the Zoom app.
The recently launched Zoom 5.0 ships with several privacy and security measures. The Zoom app also adds support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption, which provides improved protection for meetings. Even though the Zoom app is under trouble, the popularity of the app in India remains largely unaffected. The overall usage and consumption of video conferencing apps such as Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams have increased among people in India.
With schools going digital mode due to the extended lockdown, it’s essential for them to make use of dependable video conferencing tools such a Zoom. The platform is designed to deliver content to students. Moreover, students can interact with their teachers to clarify doubts directly.
The screen sharing capabilities help teachers to provide notes and slides for reference purposes. Meanwhile, students can also deliver their assignments over Zoom. From our point of view, the Zoom app should not be banned but Government should ask the company to implement all the required security measures for data privacy and protection purposes.
