Facebook unrestrained amid NY ownership lawsuit

Facebook may continue business as usual while it fights a New York man’s claim he has a contract with founder Mark Zuckerberg that entitles him to 84 percent ownership of the world’s leading social networking site, a U.S. court heard on Tuesday.Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, New York, sued Zuckerberg and Facebook Inc last month claiming a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg to develop and design a website now entitled him to a majority stake in the privately-held company.

A New York State judge in Allegany County put a temporary restraining order on company asset transfers, but that order was suspended on June 30 by Judge Richard Arcara of federal court in Buffalo, New York.Arcara decided at a hearing on Tuesday that his ruling should remain in place, Facebook and a lawyer for Ceglia said.

“We have reached an agreement with respect to the progress of the next stage of the litigation,” said Ceglia’s lawyer, Terrence Connors.In a statement, the Palo Alto, California-based company said: “We are pleased that the court’s decision to stay the temporary restraining order remains in place and will continue to fight this frivolous claim.”The purported contract was dated April 2003 and ended in February 2004, according to Ceglia’s complaint, which had a two-page “‘Work for Hire’ Contract” attached.”He has contract. The contract is clean and clear,” Connors said by telephone after the hearing.Connors said he argued in court that Zuckerberg had signed the contract.

“The judge asked the question of the defense and they said they were looking into it,” Connors said. “I suspect that, if their client did not sign it, they would have made that clear.”In court documents, lawyers for Zuckerberg and Facebook wrote that Ceglia “sat on his allowed rights for over six years” and should not be permitted “to say that now, all of a sudden, he requires immediate relief.”The company, which has nearly 500 million users and 1,000 employees, argued the “purported contract itself is wrought with irregularities, inconsistencies and undefined terms.”Zuckerberg was a freshman at Harvard University in Massachusetts at the time of the purported contract.

Facebook’s court papers noted that last December a state prosecutor accused a wood-pellet fuel company that Ceglia owned with his wife of taking $200,000 from customers and failing to deliver products or refunds.The company is also defending a claim in federal court in Delaware that the most basic functions of its website infringe a patent held by a little-known company [ID:nN16102757].

Facebook ranks among the Web’s most popular sites, alongside Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp. Facebook is also one of the most closely watched Web companies by investors eager for a blockbuster initial public offering.The cases are Paul Ceglia v Zuckerberg & Facebook, New York State Supreme Court, Allegany County, No. 038798/2010 and Ceglia v Zuckerberg et al, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, No. 10-00569.(Reuters)

Facebook founder member of the Illuminati?Logo on the jacket, Mark Zuckerberg

why is the founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg was so happy to wear hoodie (hooded jacket-ed)? Last week, when interviewed by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital, at D8 conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Zuckerberg reveals ‘secret’ jacket. When bombarded with questions about privacy, Zuckerberg sweat profusely, so he took off his jacket’s hood.

It turns out that jacket Kara Swisher’s attention, because in the jacket are pictorial symbols and their circle of arrows leading to the six corners of the eyes of the wind direction. At the center of the six arrows, the Star of David emblem was formed. “What is this, if you follow a kind of devil worship,” says Kara Swisher looking at a jacket owned by Zuckerberg, quoted from SFWeekly site.

Swisher also added that the picture on the jacket to remind him of illuminati symbol. While Gawker.com adding that the symbol was also presented on the face of the demon Beelzebub Jewish mythology. Zuckerberg himself have been known as a child of the family descended from Jewish-American couple, Edward and Karen Zuckerberg. Currently studying at the Harvard, the man who is now aged 26 years, also joined the Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternal organization.

However, according to the source of the SF Weekly, there has been no evidence strong enough that there is a kind of secret rituals conducted by a group of illuminati, in Facebook.Logo only be described as the unofficial mission statement of Facebook, because the writing on the picture to match what which is always emphasized by Zuckerberg. “Facebook, Making The World Open and Connected.” However, the jacket trigger horrendous. According to reports from TechCrunch, one of which also have the exact same jacket, via eBay auction.

“This is a limited edition, just owned by employees. I have given this jacket by one of the employees of Facebook, but now you can have,” said auctioneer this jacket on eBay. Until this news was revealed, these jackets are offered at U.S. $ 1.525

Mark Zuckerberg Promise Privacy Protect for the Users

Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that social networking site had made a mistake in protecting the confidentiality of its users and promised to immediately deal with it. Zuckerberg claimed responsibility for that mistake, through the exchange of electronic mail with the famous technology blogger Robert Scoble, who then disseminated through the permission of Zuckerberg’s personal page.

“I want to make sure that when this issue is resolved,” the sound of a message refers to Zuckerberg. “I know we have done a number of negligence, but ultimately I hope the service becomes more perfect, and people understand that our intentions are good, and we’re responding to feedback from the people we serve.”

Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old right on May 14 and said, Facebook will directly speak to the public this week regarding the modification of user privacy regulations. “We hold all enter and try to filter it down to the important things we wanted to continue to improve,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Saturday declared last week Facebook plans to simplify the control of the confidentiality of its users to ward off criticism over the years. Facebook considers users liked the new programs created in the “hotspot” The Internet is based in California but would like to facilitate the personal information that can be shared, via third party applications or pages. Features that were introduced last month including the ability of partners in the pages of data connected with Facebook, a move which will mean more and expand the social networking presence on the Internet. Facebook has been criticized exhausted by its users in the U.S., consumer protection groups, U.S. legislators and the European Union, concerning the new features mengumbar accused of confidentiality more than 400 million users.

Four U.S. senators want Facebook to make it easier for its more than 400 million users to protect their privacy as the website develops new outlets to share personal information

SAN FRANCISCO Four U.S. senators want Facebook to make it easier for its more than 400 million users to protect their privacy as the website develops new outlets to share personal information.The call for simpler privacy controls came in a letter that the senators plan to send Tuesday to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The Associated Press obtained a draft of the letter signed by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo; Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska; and Sen. Al Franken, D.-Minn.It marks the second time in the past three days that Schumer has expressed his misgivings about a series of changes that Facebook announced last week. The new features are designed to unlock more of the data that the online hangout has accumulated about people during its six-year history.

Schumer sent a letter Sunday to the Federal Trade Commission calling for regulators to draw up clearer privacy guidelines for Facebook and other Internet social networks to follow.The political pressure threatens to deter Facebook’s efforts to put its stamp on more websites, a goal that could yield more moneymaking opportunities for the privately held company.

Facebook’s expansion “raises new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information,” the senators wrote in their preliminary draft.In a statement late Monday, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company wants to meet with Schumer to explain its commitment to privacy.

“We’ve developed powerful tools to give our users control over what information they want to share, when they want to share it and with whom,” Noyes said.Among other things, Facebook is plugging into other websites so people can communicate their interests with their online entourages. Facebook also tweaked its own website to create more pages where people’s biographical information could be exposed to a wider audience.

Before personal information can be shared with other websites, the senators want Facebook to seek users’ explicit consent, a process known as “opting in.” Facebook currently can share some personal information with websites unless individual users opt out by telling the company they don’t want those details to be passed along.The senators also object to Facebook’s decision to allow other businesses store users’ data for more than 24 hours.

Zuckerberg, who turns 26 next month, says he just wants to build more online avenues for people to connect with their friends and family. Some of his previous efforts have been detoured by privacy concerns, most notably in 2007 when Facebook users revolted against notification tool, called Beacon, that broadcast their activities on dozens of websites.Facebook responded to that rebellion by giving people more control over Beacon before scrapping the program completely. (AP)

Facebook says it is "aggressively disabling" applications that claim to allow users to see who is viewing their profile

Facebook says it is “aggressively disabling” applications that claim to allow users to see who is viewing their profile. It has also confirmed that the programmes do not work and won’t allow access to private information. Several variants of the so-called “stalker apps” have appeared on Facebook in recent days.

Unwitting users have helped spread the rogue software by attempting to install it. Among the applications that have now disappeared from the site are “Stalker Check”, and “Who has visited my profile”. They claim to show users who, among their friends, is regularly visiting their page. In a statement, Facebook said: “Don’t believe any applications that claim they can show you who’s viewing your profile or photo. They can’t.”

Our philosophy is that having an open system anyone can participate in is generally better Most of the stalker apps appear to have been created to generate cash for their designers. Facebook’s Head of European Policy, Richard Allan, said: “Applications try to attract users in and try to get people to install them. “Once a large number of users have installed that application, they can try to offer services like advertising that will make money.” However, there remains the potential for victims to be directed to sites containing viruses and other malicious software.

It has, once again, raised the question of Facebook introducing an application vetting process, along the lines of Apple’s App Store system. Speaking to Newsbeat in March 2009, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg rejected the idea. He said: “There will occasionally be some applications that people don’t like. “Our philosophy is that having an open system anyone can participate in is generally better.”

Facebook has followed Google's lead

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Facebook has followed Google’s lead and introduced a dual-class stock structure, the clearest sign yet that the world’s most popular social networking site is preparing for an eventual public offering.In doing so, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s 25-year-old chief executive, looks to be solidifying his long-term grip on the site he founded five years ago that has become the fourth most popular destination on the web.Dual-class stock structures are controversial because they give certain shareholders much stronger voting rights than others.”Dual-class stock is an anathema to institutional investors,” said Charles Elson, professor of corporate governance at the University of Delaware. “Ultimately, shareholders lose. If something were to go wrong, there’s absolutely nothing they can do about it.”The use of separate classes of shares to protect the voting control of a narrow group of investors has traditionally been used in the US only in the media business. Public investors in companies such as the New York Times, Comcast and Hollinger have not been able to exert the control they would normally have, Mr Elson said.Google adopted the practice when it went public in 2004, granting class-B shares to co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and chief executive Eric Schmidt.Google’s class-B shares held 10 times the voting rights as its class-A shares, an arrangement mimicked by Facebook.At the time, Mr Page warned that share structure would leave control of the company substantially with him and Mr Brin, though he added that that was necessary to fulfil the company’s long-term vision.

With Tuesday’s move, Mr Zuckerberg appears to be emulating this strategy.Facebook confirmed the plan in a statement, saying that “existing shareholders wanted to maintain control over voting on certain issues to help ensure the company can continue to focus on the long-term to build a great business”.Mr Zuckerberg has said that he plans to take the company public eventually. But on Tuesday Facebook said an IPO was not imminent.Facebook will convert all current shareholders to class-B stock, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the plan.Shares that carry higher voting rights usually lose that privilege when they change hands, leaving control with an even more concentrated group of investors over the long term.