Now paid Zoom users can customize which of the company’s data centers their calls are routed through with just a few clicks. The settings can be changed at the account, group, or user level, though the center local to your country is locked.
China will actually be removed from the data-routing equation completely on April 25 unless users choose to opt-in to using the country’s data centers before then. All of Zoom’s HTTPS tunneling servers in China were removed earlier this month to prevent inadvertent connections to China.
But the security battle rages still — In order to address its numerous security flaws, Zoom created a collaborative security council and an executive advisory board last month. Both bring together security leaders from across industries — like ex-Facebook exec Alex Stamos — to brainstorm security improvements.
Thus far, Zoom has made changes to its default settings, like adding a mandatory waiting room and password for new meetings to prevent so-called "Zoombombing," and upped its password requirements across the platform. The company is planning more security updates in the next couple of months.
Zoom has obviously taken note of the uncertainty tied to its Chinese roots and made changes accordingly. But the decision to make data routing customization a paid-only feature severely limits who can actually take advantage of it. Those who worry the most over Zoom’s connections to China will also likely note that the company still has many developers working there.
Though some users may feel more comfortable using Zoom with Chinese data centers out of the equation, others, most notably Google, still don’t feel Zoom’s security measures are up to snuff. It’s going to take a lot more than just one new feature to convince the skeptics.