A PIL has been preferred in the Supreme Court of India seeking a ban on usage of the software application “Zoom” by the Indian public until formulation of an an appropriate legislation.
The petition primarily rests on the lack of internet safety of the app and states that application is not safe and does not have end-to-end encryption.
Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) — India’s nodal cyber security agency—too had warned about cyber risks involved in using Zoom and many organisations across the world had already banned it, petitioner Harsh Chugh has submitted.
Zoom app—which was widely being used for video conferencing—“practices data hoarding and cyber hoarding” which includes mass storage of personal data of its users and stores cloud recordings, instant messages and files, he alleged.
“Zoom is reported to have a bug that can be abused intentionally to leak information of users to third parties. The app has falsely claiming calls are end-to-end encrypted when they are not,” Chugh submitted.
The petitioner demanded that it should be banned in India as well until an appropriate law was put in place.
Chugh is seeking a direction by SC to the Central Government to carry out an exhaustive technical study into the security and privacy risks involved in using Zoom.