COEUR d’ALENE — The agenda for Tuesday’s Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission meeting was mild.

Review and approval of minutes, commissioner and staff comments, subcommittee assignments and chair updates were listed as action items.

It was in all likelihood going to be a quiet, trouble-free affair.

Until Zoom-bombers came calling.

At least two hecklers continually disrupted the meeting by repeating words, making rude comments and showing what Commission Chair Mary Lee Ryba described as “stupid, silly photos.”

“It seemed very juvenile,” she said.

City officials, including an IT staffer, tried to mute the Zoom-bombers but couldn’t and the disruptions continued.

Officials closed the meeting to Zoom, reopened it after a few minutes and the hecklers returned too, and this time, flashed photographs.

Then, Zoom access was shut down so the meeting could be completed without interruptions.

Ryba said it was the first time this has happened with the Arts Commission but said, "Zoom-bombing is not that unusual" and happens often in university settings, where Zoom is widely used.

It rose up when videoconferencing became popular as COVID-19 spread and closed in-person meetings starting in early 2020.

Security, though, was weak.

“But while the videoconferencing platform offered a lifeline for the socially distanced, it soon suffered rampant intrusions from trolls crashing Zoom calls to insult participants, shout racist slurs, and display obscene images,” according to Wired. “Even after Zoom password-protected its calls by default, the so-called Zoom-bombing continued.”

The problem reached a point where the FBI recommended “exercising due diligence and caution in your cybersecurity efforts.”

It offered a few steps to prevent or reduce teleconference hijacking threats. They included requiring a meeting password or using the waiting room feature to control the admittance of guests; not sharing a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post, but instead providing the link to specific people; and changing screensharing to “Host Only."

Ryba said they were able to capture the email addresses of the Zoom-bombers and provided that information to police.

City Attorney Randy Adams told The Press in an email there is no general law prohibiting the disruption of a public meeting.

But he noted that Idaho Code 18-6409 states, “Every person who maliciously and willfully disturbs the peace" ... is guilty of a misdemeanor.

And a parallel city code states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly engage in disorderly conduct within the city limits of the City of Coeur d'Alene."

It goes on to state that a person is guilty of disorderly conduct when that they willfully make “noise that is unreasonable, considering the nature of the actor's conduct, location, time of day or night, and other factors that would govern the conduct of a reasonably prudent person under the circumstances.”

Violation of the city code is also a misdemeanor, which can be punished by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment in the county jail for up to 180 days, or both.

Ryba said the commission's meetings at City Hall are open to the public. She said they may eventually consider discontinuing the use of Zoom, which would mean those wishing to attend would have to do so physically, which is how it was prior to COVID-19.

“We don't really want to prevent regular residents from joining,” she said.

But in general, only a few tune in to the Art Commission’s meeting via Zoom, so it may be determined it is no longer necessary.

For now, the Art Commission’s monthly meetings will include Zoom access. The Library Board meetings are also open via Zoom.

Ryba said while the disruptions are annoying, “things like that don't really bother me.”

“I know it happens a lot out there,” she said, adding that “it seems very immature.”