If there's been one topline tech story this week that feels synecdochal of the United States' entire tech-politik zeitgeist, it's got to be Zoom's latest privacy fiasco. The video conference software-maker caught heat this week over a Terms of Service (ToS) change allowing it to harvest private user meeting data for artificial intelligence training. And, yes, once again it was the internet's privacy vanguard which sounded the alarm and unleashed a deafening roar of pushback.
In the midst of this public-relations nightmare, Zoom's response to its estimated 800 million customers wasn't an apology or course correction, but an unctuous "clarification" doubling down on the new ToS. The move drew only more ire as calls for federal investigation grew.
