FaceBook.

 

Today in the news I found the following article regarding Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of FaceBook.  Mr. Zuckerberg settled a previous lawsuit brought against him by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in 2008 for $20 million and partial ownership of Facebook.  That lawsuit involved charges of computer code theft as well as misrepresentation against Mr. Zuckerberg during the development of the FaceBook software while he was enrolled at Harvard.  The settlement and the recent denial of a filing by the Winklevoss twins to have the settlement voided due to alleged misrepresntation of the value of FaceBook by Zuckerberg are well known and documented stories. 

 

However, the following article relates a new lawsuit filed by Mr. Paul Ceglia alleging separate underhanded dealings by Mr. Zuckerberg and includes several parts of email strings which are alleged evidence of these dealings.  The text of the lawsuit including the email exerpts can be read at the second link.

 

While I would be the first to agree that until this lawsuit is resolved, Mr. Zuckerberg is innocent until proven guilty, the tone of the emails appear to be consistent with other accounts I have seen of Mr. Zuckerberg's attitude and behavior.  They appear to reveal a distinct lack of ethics and a moral terpitude (not only on the part of Mr. Zuckerberg but on the part of his prior associates at Harvard as well) which, even the potential of, I am not willing to support in any way.

 

This, coupled with the use of FaceBook to support movements such as the Third Palestinian Intifada and FaceBook's refusal to adhere to it's own terms and conditions regarding the posting of material promoting hate and violence, has convinced me that it is time to end my relationship with this company.

 

In addition, it is been my recent experience that FaceBook has become increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks and possibly even being usurped by outside agencies (there is no current evidence of the latter but it is not outside the realm of possibility).

 

I have therefore decided to close my FaceBook account and distance myself from this particular social medium.  I will continue to communicate over email and other social media services.  This is just to inform all of you of the reasons for my decision.