Facebook Founder Loses Court Battle

A federal judge ruled against Facebook Inc. on Friday, denying two emergency motions to force 02138 magazine to take down documents regarding Mark E. Zuckerberg, the company’s founder.

The documents—which included Zuckerberg’s Harvard College application, his personal diary, and an e-mail he wrote to the College’s Administrative Board—are evidence in an ongoing court battle between Facebook and ConnectU, a social networking site founded by Harvard students who employed Zuckerberg before he went on to found Facebook.

The ConnectU founders allege that Zuckerberg, formerly of the Class of 2006, stole their ideas, including some of the source code for their site.

In the copy of the diary that is posted on the magazine’s Web site, Zuckerberg detailed potential features for the original Facebook, as well as how he would acquire the photographs and data for the first version.

“The Kirkland facebook is open on my computer desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics,” he wrote in a diary entry in October 2003, referring to the undergraduate House where he resided at the time. “I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive.”

Facebook argued that the documents were under court seal and should not have been released. The company’s lawyers notified 02138 on Thursday morning that they had filed the motions, giving the magazine less than two days’ notice to appear in court on Friday.

Bom S. Kim ’00—the founder of 02138, a magazine geared toward Harvard alums—said in a phone interview that the reporter who wrote the story about Zuckerberg simply walked into federal court and asked for the documents.

“We obtained them legally—it’s a matter of free speech,” Kim said. “This isn’t a new tactic—a big company trying to suppress information by harnessing their resources and lawyers to overwhelm media outlets.”

According to Kim, U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock recognized 02138’s First Amendment right to publish the information.

“We were relieved and happy,” Kim said. “It’s a good day for journalism.”

Richard Bradley, the executive editor of the magazine, echoed Kim in an entry he posted on his blog, “Shots in the Dark.”

“[T]his is a victory for the ability of the American press to do its job,” Bradley wrote, “even when a $15 billion company brings its legal guns to bear on you.”

Representatives from Facebook did not respond to requests for comment.

—Staff writer Maxwell L. Child can be reached at mchild@fas.harvard.edu

—Staff writer Nathan C. Strauss can be reached at strauss@fas.harvard.edu