Have you ever heard of a little Web site called thefacebook.com? Of course you have. You’ve probably spent hours glued to the computer screen because of it.
“I would still be able to live without Facebook,” said Morgan West ’07. ” It wouldn’t be that big of a deal to me. But I know other people who would probably die without it.”
Those students who would “die without it” use thefacebook.com on a daily basis to connect to other college students they either know or want to know. But now, it may be taken off the Internet due to a lawsuit.
Three people in particular are coming very close to legally shutting the Web site down. On Sept. 2, the founders of competitor ConnectU.com filed a lawsuit against thefacebook.com and its five officers.
The suit is still pending against Facebook, a combination of a weblog and address book. It’s a clever way that college students can share their personalities in the form of changeable ID photographs and personalized quotes.
According to Harvard University’s newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, ConnectU.com was formed by three Harvard University students who graduated last year. They are trying to legally force Mark Zuckerberg, a current Harvard junior, and thefacebook.com to shut down the site and turn over the estimated $75,000 in profits resulting from his alleged breach of contract.
Zuckerberg is suspected to have stolen their idea and after being asked to help out on the project, then called “Harvard Connection.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Zuckerberg exploited his access to the business model employed by ConnectU.com source code.
There is serious question, though, if there was even a contract involved or if ConnectU.com’s relationship with Zuckerberg was formal in any away at all.
While there are a few holes in the lawsuit at this time, it is expected to cost thefacebook.com $100,000 to defend, according to thefacebook.com’s spokesperson, Harvard University sophomore Christopher Hughes, who spoke to The Harvard Crimson in early March.
They are expected to file a countersuit against ConnectU.com for abuse of the legal system to make that money back.
Hughes told The Harvard Crimson, “As an organization, we’re not posting a profit,” dismissing the suit’s estimate of thefacebook.com’s $75,000 value.
So, while Zuckerberg’s supposed brainchild, thefacebook.com, is currently awaiting legal blood test results, we ask ourselves: did he steal the idea from fellow students? Will he have to give his baby away? Only time shall tell.
It brings out the worst in people and at the same time brings out the best in people in the form of goofy pictures and obscure group memberships.
Some say it is God’s gift to his worthy children. Others will tell you it is the Internet personification of Lucifer himself.
“I would hate to lose Facebook because it’s a great tool,” said Terence Hurley ’07.
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