Zoombombed!

Meet Gavin C. (above).

I doubt this is his real name, although you never know. Given his stunted intellect, he may have been dumb enough to use his real name. I suspect, however, that there are guidelines floating around in 4Chanland about how to Zoombomb a videoconference, right alongside the list of upcoming Zoom sessions this slimy subculture can try to disrupt.

This is exactly what he did to Neville Hobson and me yesterday as we conducted our third Zoom Chat for listeners of our podcast, "For Immediate Release" (the first and longest-running podcast for communicators; we began in January 2005). We started the Zoom Chats to provide a sense of community and a place for communicators to gather while so many of us are required to shelter in place.

We were aware of Zoombombing before we started. In fact, we reported on it in our March podcast episode. Still, we didn't want to too many obstacles to FIR listeners and other communicators joining the conversation. We hoped to address this by using social media to let people know about the session but require them to visit the podcast website to get the URL and password.

That worked fine for the first two Zoom Chats. The third, however, was our first-hand look at just how this bit of brain-damaged anarchy works.

Several participants had already joined us when Gavin popped into the mix wearing his MAGA hat. This was an obvious clue but I let it go. After all, FIR is a non-political show and I hope it attracts listeners from both sides of the political aisle. The only thing he had to contribute, though, was the assertion that we all have President Trump to thank for the great response to the pandemic. 

Since my personal views are inconsistent with this perspective, I was working out how to respond but Neville took care of it, informing Gavin that this isn't a political discussion. He seemed to accept this, but then turned to his computer and began typing. Another one of our participants messaged me in the Zoom chat pane that he looked like he was about to initiate a Zoombomb. I agreed and I thought I was ready. I had the cursor poised over the participant list, ready to bounce any offenders from the session.

They all hit at once, flooding the chat with right-wing proclamations, pornography streamed through screen sharing, and a variety of other lewd, disgusting, disruptive comments and content. (Gavin smiled and nodded as they poured into the session.) And it was loud, as you can see from the waveform:

I immediately began trying to remove the offenders from the chat but couldn't. My fault entirely: I was logged into my work Zoom account but had set up the FIR sessions on my personal account. Hence, I was just another participant and not the host. I had to sign out and log back in, then open up the session again. By the time I did, only the Zoombombers remained; everybody else had fled.

As a result, we have had to impose stricter guidelines on future chats (which we plan to continue as long as the crisis is ongoing). Those who want to participate need to reach out to Neville or me; we'll share the new URL and password personally. Everybody who enters the chat will start in a waiting room; I will authorize them to join the chat one by one (vetting those I don't recognize). I have disabled screen sharing for everyone but me. Everyone will begin in muted mode. And I have learned my lesson: I will be sure I'm logged into my personal Zoom account.

I hate doing this. I hate making it harder for people to participate. I hate the fact that there are people out there who think this is acceptable (even desirable) behavior. I hate that so large a segment of my country's population has devolved into this kind of mentality. (As one person told me, it's a shame they aren't using their spare time to volunteer at food banks, make cloth masks, or somehow make an actual contribution to their society.) I also find it disturbing that this is uniquely a right-wing activity. Of course, not all conservatives are Zoombombers (I have many good friends who are conservatives), but all Zoombombers are conservatives.

I was heartened to see the broad range of security enhancements just announced by Zoom. With any luck, this will make it easier for people seeking collegial conversation to engage without fear of an assault on their senses and sensibilities.

As for Gavin, it wouldn't kill me if his picture somehow got passed around until his identity was unmasked. It would be nice if there were actual consequences that might dissuade like-minded dipshits from jumping on the Zoombombing bandwagon. People like Gavin are the reason we can't have nice things.

By the way, we have posted the chat, deleting the Zoombombing. You can listen or watch here.

Update: I learned from Andrea Weckerle of Civilination that if you've been the victim of a teleconference hijacking, report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx, and if you've received a specific threat during a teleconference, report it to the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov/. I will be doing so.