China Uses Zoom To Spy on Americans, Zoom Shared US User Data With Beijing to Ensure Chinese Market Access
All these tech conglomerates use the “it was just a mistake” or “it was human error” excuse. Even if it were true, a mistake that exposes people to the U.S.’s enemies should be subject to prosecution. Does the U.S. have any laws to punish businesses for “mistakenly” leaking classified/private data or putting American lives in danger? If not, that’s unacceptable.(TET reader)
Zoom Shared US User Data With Beijing to Ensure Chinese Market Access, Court Documents Show
By Cathy He, The Epcoh Times,December 21, 2020 Updated: December 23, 2020
A Zoom executive worked with Chinese authorities to provide data on users located outside of China and ensure the U.S. video-call giant retained market access in the country, according to recently unsealed court documents filed by U.S. federal prosecutors.
The documents detailed internal communications between Zoom employees, which showed that Chinese security authorities made numerous requests to the company for data on users and meetings that discussed political and religious topics Beijing deemed unacceptable. Zoom complied with most of these requests, at times involving users outside of China.
The revelations highlight how users outside of China’s shores are increasingly being caught in the crosshairs as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) steps up its demands on companies like Zoom to surveil and censor users both at home and abroad. Zoom is a San Jose-based company, whose software is developed in China.
The claims arose in a prosecution announced on Dec. 18 against Jin Xinjiang, also known as Julien, a China-based Zoom executive. Jin was charged over his role in disrupting a series of meetings this year commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre—an event deemed taboo by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Jin worked as Zoom’s main liaison with Chinese law enforcement and intelligence officials. Prosecutors allege Jin was directed by the CCP to shut down at least four Zoom meetings about the Tiananmen Square Massacre, most of which were hosted by Chinese dissidents based in the United States.
At the time, the company attracted widespread criticism after it suspended the accounts of a group of U.S.- and Hong Kong-based Chinese activists who hosted meetings commemorating the anniversary. The company said at the time that it took action because participating in such events was considered “illegal in China.”
In an updated statement issued on Dec. 18 after the federal case was made public, Zoom said it “fell short” by taking actions against users outside of mainland China, including suspending the accounts and shutting down meetings. It added that it would no longer allow requests from the Chinese regime to affect anyone outside the mainland.
https://gellerreport.com/2020/12/china-uses-zoom-to-spy-on-americans-zoom-shared-us-user-data-with-beijing-to-ensure-chinese-market-access.html/