Last month, video-conferencing app Zoom announced that its acquisition of Keybase would allow it to offer end-to-end encryption. That means that those on the sending and receiving end of a Zoom video session would be able to escape scrutiny by law enforcement and hackers. But at the time, Zoom said that only those paying $14.99 a month for its premium tier of service would be in line for what is called E2EE (end-to-end encryption).
Zoom said that it was unable to offer E2EE to its free users in case the app was used to help run an illegal business and the FBI or other law enforcement needed to cut into a Zoom conference to gather information. At the time a companyspokesman said, “Zoom does not proactively monitor meeting content, and we do not share information with law enforcement except in circumstances like child sex abuse. We plan to provide end-to-end encryption to users for whom we can verify identity, thereby limiting harm to these vulnerable groups. Free users sign up with an email address, which does not provide enough information to verify identity.”