Data protection experts say despite high-profile promises from Zoom management to stop doing all the wrong things, the company still violates GDPR due to its handling of personal data.

More specifically, Ulrich Kühn, acting Hamburg Commissioner for DataProtection and Freedom of Information, published this sharp analysis (translated from German):

Public entities are particularly bound to comply with the law. It is more than regrettable such a formal step has to be taken. In the FHH all employees have access to a proven video conferencing tool that is unproblematic with regard to third-country transfers.

Dataport, as the central service provider, also provides additional video conferencing systems in its own data centers. These are used successfully in other states such as Schleswig-Holstein.

It is therefore incomprehensible why the Senate Chancellery insists on an additional and legally highly problematic system.

“Incomprehensible” why people choose Zoom? I suppose that’s like trying to comprehend why people would resort to violence over cabbage patch dolls.

His point boils down to some simple facts and basic reasoning. Why bother breaking the law to use Zoom when far better legally compliant (safer) options exist?

It probably has something to do with Chinese military intelligence… sorry, I meant Zoom knowing that the market has a predictable tendency to be vulnerable to herd thinking and low cognitive ability versus factual reasoning.