Secondary students planning protest to stop Hong Kong schools using Zoom app for online teaching
- Concerns over data security, hacking spur call for alternative methods of online teaching
- ‘Non-cooperation action’ will see students switching off webcams, adding protest slogans
They intend to turn off the webcam function during live-streamed lessons and change their profile pictures to show slogans opposing Zoom, according to the student activist group Hong Kong Secondary Schools Student Strike Platform.
The group, which organised citywide class strikes during the months of anti-government protests last year, has been promoting the “non-cooperation action” on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Telegram.
Zoom allows teachers to conduct live lessons with students signed on from home, and the webcam function allows classmates to see each other and their teacher.
Taiwan, India and Germany are among the places that have restricted the use of Zoom because of issues such as “Zoombombing”, when uninvited guests hijack online sessions, as well as security concerns over possible data leaks and the routing of some traffic through mainland China.