Tag Archives: facebook

Closing the Book on the Facebook Lawsuit

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De-friended!

There’s a pretty good chance that Mark Zuckerberg had already de-friended Paul Ceglia.  In a recent decision, Ceglia has officially been indicted after faking evidence against Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.  The original lawsuit, which came about in 2010, stems from the fact that in 2003, Ceglia altered contracts co-signed by Zuckerberg in an attempt to give himself 50% share of the company.  Authorities had arrested the internet entrepreneur in October on charges centered around issues relating to the lawsuit.  Ceglia was guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, and also attempts at tampering with and destroying evidence.  He currently faces up to 20 years in jail per criminal charge. Read more

The Witch Hunt Finally Ends for Amanda Todd

Amanda Todd Witch Hunt?

Amanda Todd, a 15 year old from British Columbia, has taken her life due to years of torment from her peers and community.  The young girl had made the mistake of flashing her breasts to a gentleman online during a slumber party.  This man found her on Facebook and sent the pictures out to all her friends and classmates.  She was chastised and bullied for her adolescent decision for years, even having to move more than once to escape the agony.  Todd made a Youtube video reaching out for help, stating that she had once tried to take her life and that she needed someone to lend a hand.  The authorities knew about the pictures and the school system knew of her suicidal threats, but then where were they when she actually decided to end it?  The real important question is why is this disturbing gentleman, who took Todd’s intimate pictures viral, not locked up?  I guess a number of people had the same question because the group Anonymous, an unlikely hero in certain aspects, outed the pervert’s name, address, and age.  

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Facebook to Pay $10 Million in Sponsored Story Settlement

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A proposed settlement between Facebook and a class of litigants has the social networking company paying $10 million to charity.  The issue at hand was whether Facebook violated California law by using its users’ names and profile pictures to advertise products without paying them and without giving them any way to opt out.  With its “sponsored stories”, users’ “likes” of products were unwittingly posted across their friends’ news feeds.  Companies would pay way more for these stories than a traditional advertisement, with Mark Zuckerberg saying they were the “Holy Grail of advertising”, akin to a word of mouth personal recommendation.  So, if you clicked “like” on a page about bananas, you’d be shown on your friends’ feeds as “John Doe likes bananas, go buy one here”.  Or, in the case of Nick Bergas, your face would be endorsing a 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant.  His story accentuates the main legal problem at issue here:  what if you don’t care about a product you’re shown endorsing?  Worse, what if you don’t want to be shown endorsing anything at all?

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