Statement from Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto and Select Board Chair Kathryn Manupelli Regarding "Zoombombing" of the February 27th Select Board Meeting

Statement from Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto and Select Board Chair Kathryn Manupelli Regarding "Zoombombing" of the February 27th Select Board Meeting

During the Select Board meeting held on Monday, February 27th, multiple individuals joined the virtual platform of the Board’s hybrid meeting and shared obscene, pornographic, anti-Semitic, racist, sexist, offensive, and inappropriate images, language, and text unrelated to the topic of discussion.  These actions required the Select Board meeting to be recessed twice during an informational hearing about the upcoming March 6th Special Town Meeting.

We condemn and will not tolerate this behavior.  These offensive, disgusting and disruptive actions do not reflect the values of our Town, the generally civil nature of our public meetings, or the standard of decorum with which the Select Board and our many volunteer boards, commissions, and committees conduct public meetings.  These actions also unfairly disrupted comments and questions from residents who took the time to attend and participate in a public hearing.

It appears these individuals joined the meeting for a brief period of time with the explicit purpose of disrupting the proceedings, commonly known as “Zoombombing”.  One individual subsequently attempted to share images or text through the Zoom “whiteboard” feature, and while their attempts were stopped from being broadcast, some attendees may have received an automated email from Zoom directing them to a “whiteboard” file during or after the meeting. The automated message is not from the Town and attendees who received it are advised to delete the email.

The Town has used Zoom for virtual and hybrid meetings since 2020.  Fortunately, instances of hacking, or of offensive or inappropriate behavior, have been limited.  The Town will carefully review and revise its information technology procedures in an effort to prevent something like this from occurring in the future.