Zoom, the U.S. video conferencing company, is one of the rare businesses that has flourished during the COVID-19 outbreak. Its product has become the go-to vehicle for meetings around the world as personal contact has been cut off by lockdowns and self-imposed isolation.
But as Uncle Ben gravely noted, with great power comes great responsibility and Zoom has failed some of its customers as its software has become ubiquitous. Some of those problems can be (and already have been) fixed; others, though, defy solution and highlight the tensions that companies face as they navigate the demands of various legal authorities — and remind users of the risks that they will face in an increasingly connected digital world.
Zoom founder Eric Yuan was born in China, studied mathematics and computer science at university and moved to the United States in 1997 to work for a U.S. digital conferencing firm. When his employer didn’t back his idea for a smartphone-based app, he and some friends left to found Zoom in 2011, which launched its first software two years later.