By Rachel Wu
MHS had several Zoom bombing incidents in the first few weeks of school with varying degrees of disruption, Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison said in an email interview. In one incident, which has now been resolved, a young person livestreamed his actions as he distracted and ridiculed students and staff, gaining a following online as a result, Hutchison added.
The Zoom bomber’s identity was determined, a police incident case was opened, and advice from a juvenile prosecutor was sought, Hutchison said. The administration from the Zoom bomber’s school worked with that student and his family to ensure that it did not continue, Hutchison added. The families of MHS students involved were also notified, and situations like these are not taken lightly, Hutchison continued. It crosses lines with cyber-bullying, privacy laws, and general kindness, Hutchison said.
“Sadly, there were students from MHS giving him information and help getting into classes, so many of the ‘targeted classes’ were those our own students were in while they gave the codes to gain access,” Hutchison said. “We received many complaints about this and other Zoom bombing incidents from teachers, students and parents because of the stress that it caused. Many people felt their privacy was violated as they were being live streamed without their permission. Others felt bullied as the harassment targeted them and was made very public.”
English Teacher Tonichi Lorenzana was one of the teachers affected by the Zoom bomber. During the first full week of school, the Zoom bomber entered the call and seemed like a new student at first because he messaged Lorenzana in the chat with the name of the principal and their “counselor,” Lorenzana said in an email interview. However, after about ten minutes, it became clear that the Zoom bomber did not belong, and he made an inappropriate comment in class, so Lorenzana kicked the Zoom bomber out, Lorenzana continued. At that point, a student sent Lorenzana a link to the Zoom bomber’s Twitch stream, and the whole situation became clear, Lorenzana added.
“As far as I am concerned, the Zoom bomber committed a crime. He trespassed in our class and took video and audio recordings of the students and of me, without our consent,” Lorenzana said. “If some unknown person walked on campus and filmed students and faculty without their knowledge, they would be in serious trouble with the law. I see the whole Zoom bombing and Twitch streaming as the same.”
The situation was traumatizing, since the Zoom bomber played loud audio with explicit content and then did something sexually explicit on camera, Junior Tanvi Singh, an affected student, said in an email interview. She did not see it personally since she was on Google and not the Zoom window, but her friends saw, Singh added.
“I would challenge people to think about what they are really doing,” Hutchinson said.“The impact is significant and during these already stressful times, adds even more hurt/stress to others. There may be a … student who is trying hard to understand the lessons. There may be … a teacher who has had very little sleep as they work so hard to prepare amazing lessons in this distance learning model, and then someone is going out of their way to add chaos. I challenge everyone to make a positive difference each day, and if that means making the choice to not do something disruptive, that is a step. If it means going one step further and doing something directly positive, even better!”