The Case Against Facebook

With more than 43 million active users and more than 200,000 new registrations a day, Facebook has become a phenomenon consuming more and more of college students’ time.

Amber Kerstetter, a sophomore at Houghton College, says she logs onto Facebook at least twice a day during the week and at least six times a day on the weekends.

“I like Facebook because it is a place where you can meet a lot of people from your school. And you can find things that you have in common with other people,” she says. “Plus, it’s fun to comment on people’s walls!”

Emily Jones, a sophomore at California University of Pennsylvania, says she checks her Facebook every time she is in the room, or every half-hour or hour while working on the computer, and always before going to bed. She says Facebook is a bit of a distraction and a frequent mode of procrastination, and that while studying for a midterm this year (or at least trying to study), she changed her profile picture two times and tagged and added captions for all her old profile pictures.

“I think Facebook is pretty much the best thing ever. It’s a great way to keep in contact with friends, see what is happening with friends, post pictures, meet new people and promote causes,” she says.

But with a lawsuit pending against creator Mark Zuckerberg from three of his Harvard classmates who claim he stole their ideas, how much longer will this phenomenon last?

Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra are suing Zuckerberg for stealing their ideas while at Harvard University. They claim that in December 2002 they created the social networking site Harvard Connection, and that in November 2003 they asked Zuckerberg to help with this site, which had since become ConnectU. They say Zuckerberg stalled finishing the site and in February 2004 launched thefacebook.com, beating ConnectU to the market by a few months and thus gaining a huge advantage, according to the lawsuit.

The three filed a lawsuit in 2004 accusing Zuckerberg of fraud, copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. The lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality, but filed again soon after. They asked again for control of Facebook and its assets.

Facebook asked that the lawsuit be dismissed because of lack of evidence against Zuckerberg, and U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock in Boston delayed ruling and gave ConnectU until August 8 to refine their accusations. Since then, there has been no recent news about the lawsuit, which is apparently still pending.

Owen Thomas, managing editor of Valleywag, an online magazine self-proclaimed as “Silicon Valley’s Tech Gossip Rag,” says a trial would not be a good thing for Facebook.

“A trial, with all its uncertainty, is the last thing Zuckerberg needs, with his stated plans to keep Facebook independent and apparent goal to pursue an IPO,” says Thomas.

Thomas says Zuckerberg’s best shot is to get the lawsuit dismissed on the technicality that the statute of limitations ran out on February 4, 2007, four years after Zuckerberg launched Facebook. He says there is the slight possibility that the case could be dismissed on its substance, but that this is less likely because if there is even a bit of uncertainty of the substance of the case, the judge will likely proceed with the trial.

Facebook, which started a few months before ConnectU, has more than 41 million users, compared with ConnectU’s mere 70,000. Facebook and ConnectU are very similar social networking sites, with both allowing users to make profiles, post pictures and personal information, and network with other users.

Arthur Cockfield, associate dean and associate professor at Queen’s University, says Facebook has impacted our culture in both positive and negative ways that affect more than just college students now that the biggest growth area is the generation of 30-years-olds.

The upside of Facebook is how easy it is to find others with similar interests, keep in touch with loved ones or past friends and help with job networking. However, there is also a downside related to privacy and gossip issues.

“There is a view that people are willing to give up far more info regarding intimate aspects of their lifestyles,” he says, because “information one thinks won’t get out to wider networks in fact often does.”

He also says there is the problem of students gossiping and then the subjects finding out, and individuals writing libelous statements and getting sued. A third problem is the “bowling alone” phenomenon.

“People don’t have as many ‘real’ friends and don’t learn to interact with others in a meaningful way,” he says.

Bethany Mitterling, a sophomore at Pennsylvania College of Technology, says that she thinks many people are “addicted” to Facebook and get on way too much. She does not think she is quite that bad, though.

“I’m probably a little addicted, but I can go without using it for a while and not have any need to get on,” she says, even though she also admitted that she usually logs on three or four times a day and the most she has gone without checking her Facebook is a day.

Jones and Kerstetter both hope Facebook does not shut down and say that they would be extremely upset if Facebook shut down.

“I use Facebook as kind of a way to keep in touch with all my friends from back home. So if they shut it down, I would be very upset because I wouldn’t be able to talk to my friends as much,” Kerstetter says.
Mitterling says that if Facebook shuts down, though, it would not be the end of the world.

“Well, I’d probably have less to do while using the Internet, but I don’t think much in my life outside of my computer would change,” she says. “I’d probably be annoyed to start off, but after a while I’d probably forget about it.”