New York (AFP)

A columnist for the prestigious magazine The New Yorker filmed without knowing it on Zoom sex in the air: a mishap that adds to a series of "accidents" on the platform, illustrating the vagaries of these videoconferences which have become omnipresent in these times pandemic.

Jeffrey Toobin, 60, apologized on Monday after being suspended by the New Yorker: According to sources cited by Vice News, he was caught masturbating last week during a video conference with colleagues at the magazine and a New York radio station.

The scandal would have occurred during a break of this meeting dedicated to the preparation of the presidential election of November 3: the lawyer and columnist, author of several political books and regular consultant on the CNN channel, was filmed while he thought "no longer be visible" by his colleagues.

“I made a shamefully stupid mistake, believing I was out of the picture. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and colleagues,” he told Vice.

Besides his suspension from the magazine, he will also disappear from CNN for an unspecified length of time.

The channel said he was going to be away "to deal with personal issues."

Other shocking or surprising moments in recent months have fueled the chronicle of the vagaries of videoconferences, which have become widespread with the pandemic and working from home.

Last month, an Argentine parliamentarian was suspended after he was caught kissing one of his partner's breasts during a virtual parliamentary session.

Images that quickly spread on social networks.

While another parliamentarian had the floor, Juan Emilio Ameri, 47, who was participating in the session from his home, was filmed grabbed by the chest of a woman sitting next to him.

The session was interrupted and then suspended by the President of Parliament.

Mr. Ameri apologized, explaining that he believed he was not online at this precise moment.

"Here, in the center of the country, the connection is very bad," said Ameri, sanctioned by five days of suspension.

“My partner was coming out of the bathroom, I asked her how she felt with her breast implants and I kissed them. She had an operation to put them in place 10 days ago,” he added.

- "The image was blurry" -

Also in September, a businessman, whose identity has not been revealed, appeared naked during a Zoom conference with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, after forgetting to turn off his camera.

His image appeared in the right corner of the screen, alongside about 20 other video conference participants.

"There is a guy taking a shower, naked," we can hear a Brazilian minister say.

And Mr. Bolsonaro to answer: "Unfortunately we saw, the image was blurry but we saw, unfortunately".

In June, an Irish parliamentarian, Luke Flanagan, appeared to him in his underwear - and shirt - at a virtual meeting of a European Parliament committee.

"I had gone for a run .... I was in a T-shirt two minutes earlier, I decided to put on a shirt to look respectable! I really pulled it off," he said. he humorously commented on Twitter, adding, "Hope you liked my legs."

These scenes, however, remain relatively harmless compared to the porn images with which some hackers have bombarded meetings or even virtual classes on Zoom in recent months, leading the platform, whose user numbers have skyrocketed with the pandemic, to strengthen its security protocols.

© 2020 AFP