- An Oregon
middle school class was "Zoom-bombed" on Monday when a man joined a class call and exposed himself, local news station KDRV 12 reported. - In an email to families, Hedrick Middle School said that the man had used a student's name to get through screening on the call, but was kicked out when the teacher noticed him.
- "
Zoom-bombing " has become a form of trolling during the pandemic, but has resulted in calls being flooded with things like racist and anti-Semitic language and porn.
An Oregon middle school class was disrupted on Monday when a man exposed himself to students while "Zoom bombing" the class, local ABC affiliate KDRV 12 reported.
Per KDRV 12, Beth Anderson, the principal of Hedrick Middle School, notified families via email of the incident, saying that the man had used a student's name to get through the call's initial screening. According to local NBC affiliate KOBI 5, the email said that the teacher immediately kicked the man off of the call.
The school filed a report with Medford Police after tracking the man's IP address, and District IT staff have also been in contact with Zoom to discuss improving security measures, according to Anderson.
"This is absolutely unacceptable and we are appalled this occurred in one of our classrooms," Anderson said, according to KDRV 12. "Unfortunately, there are people taking advantage of virtual meeting platforms nationwide, not just on Zoom, but on other platforms as well."
"Zoom-bombing" is a phenomenon that has gained traction during the pandemic, when events ranging from business meetings to school course are taking place on the video chatting platform. While the practice became a meme online as people engaged in Zoom-bombing as a form of trolling, in many cases it could prove to be illegal, as Insider's Rachel Greenspan reported in April.
This is far from the first time that Zoom-bombers have crashed school-related events: teens have been arrested on charges related to Zoom-bombing high school classes, and in May, Oklahoma City University's Zoom graduation was interrupted by "racism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism."
There have been instances of Zoom-bombing that go far past trolling. In Georgia, a federal court hearing was Zoom-bombed with photos of the 9/11 attacks, ISIS, and porn. In April, Zoom-bombers invaded a Holocaust Remembrance Day call by flooding it with anti-Semitic language, pornography, and a swastika. At the time of that incident, Zoom told Insider that it "strongly condemns such behavior" and encouraged users to report incidents to Zoom or law enforcement.
According to KDRV 12, Hedrick Middle School principal Anderson said that Medford School District is offering counseling services to students and that the school is taking steps to make Zoom calls more secure including requiring students to spell out their first and last names in order to join a call and not allowing students back onto a call if they leave the meeting.
- Read more:
- Zoom-bombing has become a popular form of trolling during quarantine. In many cases, it may be illegal, according to experts.
- A high schooler has been invading random Zoom classes with armies of up to 60 strangers and posting results on TikTok
- A federal court hearing in Georgia was Zoom-bombed with photos of the 9/11 attacks, ISIS, and porn
- Zoom-bombers used a swastika, pornography, and anti-Semitic language to invade a Holocaust Remembrance Day call: 'It felt like our voice was taken from us'