Within the Zoom settings a host can “lock” the meeting to prevent anyone else from joining, even if they have the ID and password. Zoom has recently publicized a suite of options to handle trolls, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit focused in privacy and civil liberties, has compiled a list of tips to safeguard privacy.
As Zoom states on their website, “You do not want random people in your public event taking control of the screen and sharing unwanted content with the group.” Zoom suggests restricting this — before the meeting and during the meeting in the host control bar — so the host is the only one who can screen-share.
P has no problem using all the tools available to her in the software. She also takes advantage of a “waiting room” feature, that requires would-be participants to linger in digital purgatory until the host lets them in — or not. There’s also a default setting to limit screen sharing to only the host.
P doesn’t know if the same trolls will attempt to disrupt future meetings. “I don’t know who they were, why they were doing it. I can only guess, and my guess is [they were doing it] to create theater, to create fear,” she said.
P worries the newcomers in her women’s groups could be put off. “Just the fact of knowing that someone can do such a thing scares some women to begin with. It’s one more barrier,” she said.
She’s not intimidated though. P will be monitoring the digital doors in weeks to come — a Zoom bouncer on a mission to keep her AA groups open to the public.