Town Council Meeting 'Zoom-Bombed'

The Wednesday evening Town Council meeting, around the 20-minute mark, not for the first time, was the victim of an egregious Zoom bombing in which the video interface was taken over and replaced with a video clip of a nude man, after the fashion of Jeffrey Toobin.  As if that wasn't enough, the audio channel consisted of someone loudly repeating a t00-familiar racial epithet.

It was probably a matter of seconds before the Zoom call was terminated by the town staff, though it probably seemed much longer. It then took just a few minutes for those who chose to to log back on and Chair Tom Mercer to bring the meeting back into session, offering profuse apologies to everyone.

Zoom bombing became a prominent problem during the pandemic with so many people suddenly flooding the platform. The term originated in popular usage but the phenomenon can and does happen on similar platforms.  There are many defenses but none that are perfect and many undermine the very point of video conferencing.

After the incident, Councilor Frongillo resumed his comments on his long list of improvements and changes needed for Franklin.