Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his company are suddenly facing a big new round of scrutiny and criticism about their cavalier attitude toward user privacy.
An early instant messenger exchange Mark had with a college friend won't help put these concerns to rest.
According to SAI sources, the following exchange is between a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg and a friend shortly after Mark launched The Facebook in his dorm room:
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks.
Brutal.
Could Mark have been completely joking? Sure. But the exchange does reveal that Facebook's aggressive attitude toward privacy may have begun early on.
Since Facebook launched, the company has faced one privacy flap after another, usually following changes to the privacy policy or new product releases. To its credit, the company has often modified its products based on such feedback. As the pioneer in a huge new market, Facebook will take heat for everything it does. It has also now grown into a $22 billion company run by adults who know that their future depends on Facebook users trusting the site's privacy policy.
But the company's attitude toward privacy, as reflected in Mark's early emails and IMs, features like Beacon and Instant Personalization, and the frequent changes to the privacy policy, has been consistently aggressive: Do something first, then see how people react.
And this does appear to reflect Mark's own views of privacy, which seem to be that people shouldn't care about it as much as they do -- an attitude that very much reflects the attitude of his generation.
After all, here's what early Facebook engineering boss, Harvard alum, and Zuckerberg confidant Charlie Cheever said in David Kirkpatrick's brilliantly-reported upcoming book The Facebook Effect.
"I feel Mark doesn't believe in privacy that much, or at least believes in privacy as a stepping stone. Maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong."
Again in Kirkpatrick's book, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg puts it this way:
"Mark really does believe very much in transparency and the vision of an open society and open world, and so he wants to push people that way. I think he also understands that the way to get there is to give people granular control and comfort. He hopes you'll get more open, and he's kind of happy to help you get there. So for him, it's more of a means to an end. For me, I'm not as sure."
Facebook declined to comment about Mark's attitude toward privacy.
COMMENTARY: Anybody who read the book titled, "The Accidental Billionaires", which came out in 2009, already has a pretty good idea about the type of person that the notorious "red head", Mark Zuckerberg, is.
He is nothing, but a conniving, little back stabbing, idea stealing pathetic excuse for a human being. In short, the redhead stole the idea for Facebook from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, two Harvard classmates. I mentioned this in a previous blog post titled "Winklevoss twins finally get their day in court versus Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook"
A much more detailed account of the grand larceny performed by Mark Zuckerberg on the Winklevoss twins is in the book, which is must reading. The Winklevoss twins supposedly turned down a reported $100 million out-of-court settlement offered to them by the red head a couple of years ago, and opted to pursue billions from the red head in court.
I know that there are legions of college-aged students out there who glorify the red head, but I am not one of those. There are some pretty seedy characters out there including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, two multi-billionaires, who took questionnable advantages of their opportunities back in the 80's, and build great business empires, but the red head maybe the worst of all of them. Those IM messages are pretty conclusive proof of the red head's character.
It does not surprise me that he now has diabolical plans to take advantage of the personal data about Facebook members in the pursuit of profits. The class action lawsuits are now indicative of just how bad the situation has become.
By the way, Hollywood is now shooting the "The Accidental Billionaires" movie, which is going to be introduced to the theaters sometime later this year. You thought things were bad, this PR nightmare is going to get worst for the red head.
Courtesy of an article dated May 13, 2010 appearing in the Business Insider
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