> It is also important to note that quite often you are not dealing only with the company that makes a product, but the regulatory bodies that can pressure companies into complying with their wishes.
While considering the regulatory requirements helps explain the desire to lie, it does not make the lie any more defensible. Even if a regulatory body is making impractical demand, I very much doubt they are demanding companies lie to their users and potential users. Even if they were "just following orders guv" is not an acceptable excuse.
The key facts: Zoom lied. They didn't have to. They could have accurately reported what encryption they use and what they were working towards if that was due to change.
Even if we accept that the initial claims were wrong due to executives misunderstanding what their own security/dev people had stated, that doesn't defend continuing to make the claim without seeking further clarity after questions were raised.
Look up "warrant canary". IANAL, but my understanding is that you can be secretly compelled to not speak, but you cannot be legally compelled to actively tell a lie -- the Wikipedia page agrees with my interpretation. So, you can just publish "I am not subject to a gag order" every day until you are subject to one.
While considering the regulatory requirements helps explain the desire to lie, it does not make the lie any more defensible. Even if a regulatory body is making impractical demand, I very much doubt they are demanding companies lie to their users and potential users. Even if they were "just following orders guv" is not an acceptable excuse.
The key facts: Zoom lied. They didn't have to. They could have accurately reported what encryption they use and what they were working towards if that was due to change.
Even if we accept that the initial claims were wrong due to executives misunderstanding what their own security/dev people had stated, that doesn't defend continuing to make the claim without seeking further clarity after questions were raised.