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    NYC schools told not to use Zoom for distance learning amid security concerns, reports say

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    Teachers in public schools in New York City have been told not to use Zoom video conferencing technology for distance learning amid security and privacy concerns, according to media reports.

    Zoom has been thrust into the spotlight as the world scrambles to contain the coronavirus outbreak and millions of people are now working from home. In addition to using the video conference for work, Zoom is also being used by schools for distance learning.

    With the growing use of video-conferencing services, however, the risk of hacking has also been highlighted.

    The Chalkbeat website reports that New York City’s Department of Education has received reports of issues impacting Zoom privacy and security. “Based on the DOE’s review of those documented concerns, the DOE will no longer permit the use of Zoom at this time,” it said, in a memo to principals obtained by Chalkbeat.

    ‘ZOOM-BOMBING’: FBI WARNS SOME TELECONFERENCES, ONLINE CLASSROOMS VULNERABLE TO HACKERS

    Instead, schools were advised to switch to Microsoft’s Microsoft Teams collaboration technology, according to Chalkbeat.

    In this photo illustration, the American video Communications company Zoom logo seen displayed on a smartphone with a computer model of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the background.
    (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    “Zoom takes user privacy, security, and trust extremely seriously,” said a Zoom spokeswoman, in a statement emailed to Fox News. “Zoom was originally developed for enterprise use, and has been confidently selected for complete deployment by a large number of institutions globally, following security reviews of our user, network and datacenter layers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working around-the-clock to ensure that hospitals, universities, schools, and other organizations across the world can stay connected and operational.”

    In a recent blog post, Zoom described best practices for securing a virtual classroom and has enhanced its features for educators.

    “We recently updated the default settings for education users enrolled in our K-12 program to enable waiting rooms and ensure teachers are the only ones who can share content in class by default,” the spokeswoman told Fox News. “We are proud of the role we are playing during this challenging time and committed to providing educators and other users with the tools they need.”

    SPACEX BANS ITS EMPLOYEES USING ZOOM OVER PRIVACY CONCERNS, REPORT SAYS

    Fox News has reached out to the Department of Education with a request for comment on this story.

    Principals were reportedly told that Google Classroom, which is designed to help students and teachers organize assignments and collaborate, is safe to use, but not for video and voice conferencing.

    Citing the same memo, the New York Daily News reported that education officials are working to get clearance for Google’s video conferencing.

    AS USAGE BOOMS AMID CORONAVIRUS CRISIS, ZOOM’S R&D PRESENCE IN CHINA UNDER SCRUTINY

    Google has not resonded to a request for comment on this story.

    The FBI recently warned of so-called “Zoom-bombing,” or videoconference hacking. “The FBI has received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language,” the bureau said.

    Earlier this week Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX banned the use of Zoom, according to a Reuters report.

    CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE  CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

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    As of Saturday afternoon, at least 1,159,515 coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide, at least 290,606 of which are in the U.S. The disease has accounted for at least 62,376 deaths around the world, including more than 5,100 people in the U.S.

    Fox News’ Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

    As usage booms amid coronavirus crisis, Zoom’s R&D presence in China under scrutiny

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    Zoom Video Communications, which is enjoying a boom in use as people flock to its service amid the coronavirus outbreak, is attracting attention over its R&D (Research and Development) presence in China.

    The video conferencing specialist, which went public in April 2019, is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., but has said that much of its product development work is done in China. With Zoom in the spotlight, this R&D presence has also been attracting attention.

    “Most of Zoom’s engineering team is based in China,” Jacob Helberg, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, tweeted on Monday. “Conducting sensitive conversations on a platform vulnerable to data collection by the CCP should give pause to those concerned with protecting company or government secrets.”

    CCP is an acronym for the Chinese Communist Party.

    ‘ZOOM-BOMBING’: FBI WARNS SOME TELECONFERENCES, ONLINE CLASSROOMS VULNERABLE TO HACKERS

    Helberg, a former global policy advisor at Google, is also a senior adviser at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center.

    Fox News has reached out to Google with a request for comment.

    In this photo illustration the American video Communications company Zoom logo seen displayed on a smartphone with a computer model of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the background.
    (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    A Twitter user posted screenshots purportedly of Zoom’s installer code on Apple’s MacOS, calling it “very shady,” adding it is installed without the “user giving his final consent,” a similar tactic used by macOS malware.

    The New York Times reports that New York Attorney General Letitia James has sent a letter to Zoom asking what, if any, increased privacy measures have been implemented following its surge in traffic.

    In a blog post dated March 29, Zoom sought to address users’ recent concerns about its privacy policies. “We are updating our privacy policy to be more clear, explicit, and transparent,” Aparna Bawa, Zoom’s chief legal officer, said in the post.

    Fox News has reached out to Zoom with a request for comment on this story.

    In its IPO prospectus, Zoom explained that most of the company’s product development staff are in China. “Our product development team is largely based in China, where personnel costs are less expensive than in many other jurisdictions,” it explained Zoom. “If we had to relocate our product development team from China to another jurisdiction, we could experience, among other things, higher operating expenses, which would adversely impact our operating margins and harm our business.”

    As of Jan. 31, 2019, Zoom’s R&D centers in China employed over 500 workers, according to the filing. The FT reports that at the time of its IPO the company had to warn investors that its links to China could be viewed as a security and privacy risk.

    Zoom, however, also has an R&D presence in the U.S., which it describes as a strategic advantage in its IPO prospectus. This, it said, allows the company to “invest more in increasing our product capabilities in an efficient manner.”

    ZOOMBOMBING, APPLE PAY TRICKS, SANITIZING AMAZON BOXES, AND MORE: TECH Q&A

    Zoom is led by Eric Yuan, who founded the company in 2011. A former corporate vice-president of engineering at Cisco, Yuan first dreamed up the Zoom concept during the 1990s as a college student in China, when he dreaded the 10-hour train trips to see his then-girlfriend, now his wife.

    Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, center, celebrates the opening bell at Nasdaq as his company holds its IPO, Thursday, April 18, 2019, in New York. The videoconferencing company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. – file photo.
    (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

    The company provides its services via 13 co-located data centers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands and the U.S., the IPO prospectus said.

    Zoom has been thrust into the spotlight as the world scrambles to contain the coronavirus outbreak and millions of people are now working from home. In addition to using the video conference for work, many are also tapping it to hold virtual playdates for their kids and virtual happy hours with friends and family banned from gathering in public places.

    With the growing use of videoconferencing services, the risk of hacking has also been highlighted.

    Earlier this week, the FBI warned of so-called “Zoom-bombing” or videoconference hacking. “The FBI has received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language,” it said.

    FRIGHTENING CELLPHONE ‘HEAT MAP’ SHOWS CORONAVIRUS’ POTENTIAL SPREAD AS SPRING BREAK REVELERS WENT HOME

    The FBI said that last month, for example, a Massachusetts-based high school reported that while a teacher was conducting an online class using Zoom, an unidentified person or persons dialed into the classroom. “This individual yelled a profanity and then shouted the teacher’s home address in the middle of instruction,” it said.

    Nasdaq is ready for the Zoom IPO, Thursday, April 18, 2019 in New York – file photo.
    (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

    Another Massachusetts-based school also reported a Zoom meeting being accessed by an unidentified individual, according to the FBI. “In this incident, the individual was visible on the video camera and displayed swastika tattoos.”

    Earlier this week, a spokesperson for Zoom told Fox News that the company has taken the security of its meetings seriously and was “deeply upset to hear about the incidents involving this type of attack.”

    The company added that it encouraged users hosting large, public group meetings to review settings for their safety and report incidents to its support team so it could “take appropriate action.”

    CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE  CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

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    Zoom shares, which are listed on the Nasdaq, have risen over 124 percent since its IPO last year.

    Fox News’ Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

    Nashville woman, 21, regrets coronavirus video after falling ill herself: report

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    Coronavirus was something that happened to other people, a 21-year-old Nashville, Tenn., woman said online recently.

    Two days later Ireland Tate learned she was wrong, after testing positive for the virus, which is also known as COVID-19.

    Now she’s quarantined inside her parents’ home with painful symptoms and is urging other young adults to take the virus threat seriously.

    TENNESSEE MAN WITH CORONAVIRUS DESCRIBES LIFE AS ‘PATIENT ZERO’

    “While it may not be affecting you, you could be affecting someone’s grandma or grandpa or aunt or uncle or sister,” Tate said, according to FOX 17 of Nashville.

    Previously, Tate had scoffed online about the idea of social distancing – staying at least six feet away from others to avoid either catching the virus or spreading it as an asymptomatic carrier.

    “So, I’m aware that we’re supposed to be self-quarantining and social distancing all these things to keep everyone safe. Cool. I get it,” Tate had said in a video. “I just don’t think that I’m going to get the virus.”

    In a subsequent video she described the effects of the illness.

    “It feels like someone is sitting on my chest at all times. It’s really hard to breathe. I’ve coughed until my throat has bled,” Tate said later, according to FOX 17.

    Tate said she believes she caught the virus after going out with a group of friends who were intent on defying the city’s directives against group gatherings.

    As of Wednesday, Tennessee had 224 confirmed cases of coronavirus involving adults age 21-30, the station reported.

    CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

    Dr. James Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, who serves on the city’s coronavirus task force, said Tate’s case should be a warning sign to others.

    “There are still those who only believe that the virus affects those who are elderly and with underlying conditions,” Hildreth told FOX 17. “That’s clearly not the case.”

    Click here for more from FOX 17 Nashville.

    Nashville woman, 21, regrets coronavirus video after falling ill herself: report

    Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.

    Coronavirus was something that happened to other people, a 21-year-old Nashville, Tenn., woman said online recently.

    Two days later Ireland Tate learned she was wrong, after testing positive for the virus, which is also known as COVID-19.

    Now she’s quarantined inside her parents’ home with painful symptoms and is urging other young adults to take the virus threat seriously.

    TENNESSEE MAN WITH CORONAVIRUS DESCRIBES LIFE AS ‘PATIENT ZERO’

    “While it may not be affecting you, you could be affecting someone’s grandma or grandpa or aunt or uncle or sister,” Tate said, according to FOX 17 of Nashville.

    Previously, Tate had scoffed online about the idea of social distancing – staying at least six feet away from others to avoid either catching the virus or spreading it as an asymptomatic carrier.

    “So, I’m aware that we’re supposed to be self-quarantining and social distancing all these things to keep everyone safe. Cool. I get it,” Tate had said in a video. “I just don’t think that I’m going to get the virus.”

    In a subsequent video she described the effects of the illness.

    “It feels like someone is sitting on my chest at all times. It’s really hard to breathe. I’ve coughed until my throat has bled,” Tate said later, according to FOX 17.

    Tate said she believes she caught the virus after going out with a group of friends who were intent on defying the city’s directives against group gatherings.

    As of Wednesday, Tennessee had 224 confirmed cases of coronavirus involving adults age 21-30, the station reported.

    CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

    Dr. James Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, who serves on the city’s coronavirus task force, said Tate’s case should be a warning sign to others.

    “There are still those who only believe that the virus affects those who are elderly and with underlying conditions,” Hildreth told FOX 17. “That’s clearly not the case.”

    Click here for more from FOX 17 Nashville.

    YouTube videos of journalist Alison Parker’s murder still circulating, father says

    The father of Alison Parker, a television news journalist who was murdered during a live broadcast in 2015, has slammed YouTube over sick videos of her slaying that continue to circulate on the video-sharing site.

    On Aug. 26, 2015, Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27 were shot by 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan during a live interview in Moneta, Va. Flanagan, a disgruntled former reporter who also went by the name Bryce Williams, later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    The gunman recorded the shooting on a GoPro he was wearing and the footage quickly circulated on social media, prompting Facebook and Twitter, along with YouTube, to rush to remove the videos.

    SOCIAL MEDIA GIANTS CLAMP DOWN ON SICKENING VIRGINIA SHOOTING FOOTAGE

    However, Parker’s father Andy Parker told the Washington Post that videos of the killing are still circulating on YouTube, which is owned by Google. “We’re flagging the stuff,” he said. “Nothing’s coming down. This is crazy. I cannot tolerate them profiting from my daughter’s murder, and that’s exactly what they do.”

    A photo sits amongst flowers at a candlelight vigil for Alison Parker on Martinsville High School’s football field on Aug. 27, 2015 in Martinsville, Va.
    (Jay Paul/Getty Images)

    Parker has filed a complaint and request for investigation with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that YouTube is violating its terms by hosting videos that graphically depict people being murdered. The video-sharing site is “capitalizing on their final moments for pure shock value and entertainment” according to the complaint, which was drafted with the Georgetown Law Civil Rights Clinic.

    “The platform’s Terms of Service proclaim that violent content is not allowed, leading users to reasonably believe that they will not encounter it,” the complaint says. “In reality, these videos are commonplace on the platform, and many of them have remained there for several years.”

    GOP SEN. JOSH HAWLEY INTRODUCES BILL FORCING YOUTUBE ‘TO STOP CATERING TO PEDOPHILES’

    In the complaint, Parker notes that videos of his daughter’s dying moments “continue to proliferate on YouTube nearly five years after her murder.” The videos have been edited in numerous ways, in almost every case to increase their shock value, the filing says.

    Andy Parker (L), the father of murdered TV reporter Alison Parker, speaks while flanked by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) (R), during an anti-gun rally on Capitol Hill Sept. 10, 2015, in Washington, D.C.
    (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

    Parker says that conspiracy hoaxers have posted raw TV and GoPro footage of the murder, spreading lies and subjecting him to harassment. Others have uploaded the videos to YouTube “for pure sadistic entertainment,” the filing adds.

    “The users who perpetuate this type of entertainment continue to harass Mr. Parker by discounting his suffering as fake,” the filing says. “Yet to this day, Mr. Parker and his family have had only one tool available to defend themselves from such traumatic vitriol and the nightmare of seeing their daughter’s death: watch these videos one-by-one in order to report them.”

    YOUTUBE: NO ‘DEEPFAKES’ OR ‘BIRTHER’ VIDEOS IN 2020 ELECTION

    A spokeswoman for YouTube told Fox News that the video-sharing site’s Community Guidelines are designed to protect its users, including those affected by tragedies. “We specifically prohibit videos that aim to shock with violence, or accuse victims of public violent events of being part of a hoax,” she explained, via email. “We rigorously enforce these policies using a combination of machine learning technology and human review and, over the last few years, we’ve removed thousands of copies of this video for violating our policies. We will continue to stay vigilant and improve our policy enforcement.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    YouTube says that in the third quarter of 2019 it removed more than 1.3 million videos for violating its policies with regard to violent and graphic content.

    The Associated Press contributed to this article.

    Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

    TikTok slammed after suppressing physically disabled users’ videos in ‘anti-bullying’ push

    TikTok has come under fire for suppressing videos from disabled, LGBTQ and overweight users, in what the social media app describes as a flawed attempt to tackle bullying.

    Citing leaked documents, German digital-rights website Netzpolitik.org reported that TikTok’s moderators were instructed to mark videos of people with disabilities and limit their reach. Netzpolitik.org reported that videos of LGBTQ and overweight people were also placed on a list of “special users” that limited their reach.

    TikTok told Fox News that the policy was a temporary one that has now been overhauled.

    TIKTOK COULD THREATEN NATIONAL SECURITY, SENATORS CHARGE

    “Early on, in response to an increase in bullying on the app, we implemented a blunt and temporary policy,” it said, in an emailed statement. “This was never designed to be a long-term solution, but rather a way to help manage a troubling trend. While the intention was good, it became clear that the approach was wrong and we have since removed the policy in favor of more nuanced anti-bullying policies and in-app protections.”

    TikTok was slammed over its suppression of the videos. “TikTok, the social media sensation du jour, has apparently been hobbling users who have physical disabilities. It did so in a misguided attempt to shield these people from bullying — heavy emphasis on the word ‘misguided,’” Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project tweeted on Wednesday.

    A spokeswoman for U.K. disability equality charity Scope told the BBC that TikTok’s initial strategy was “bizarre.”

    The Chinese-owned app has been in the spotlight recently. In October, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. called for a probe into TikTok, citing concerns over national security. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also called for a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States review of TikTok.

    ISIS USING TIKTOK TO SPREAD PROPAGANDA, EMOJIS AND ALL, REPORT SAYS

    Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported in November that CFIUS had opened a national security investigation into TikTok. Following the inquiry, Reuters also reported TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is stepping up its efforts to separate TikTok from “much of its Chinese operations.”

    Separately, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Islamic State has been using TikTok as a recruitment tool.

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    Fox News’ Christopher Carbone and Frank Miles contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers