Facebook founder feels the heat  

The SMH has a report on the apparently cavalier attitude towards data privacy held by Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook founder feels the heat as privacy backlash rages.

A leaked instant messenger (IM) transcript from 2003 in which Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg mocks users who joined his then fledgling social networking site is adding to the sense of outrage over the social networking site's cavalier attitude towards privacy.

The transcript, published by the sober Business Insider website, dates from the days when Zuckerberg was a 19-year-old operating what was then called The Facebook from his Harvard dorm room.

The IM conversation went like this, Business Insider says:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard

Zuck: Just ask.

Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS

[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?

Zuck: People just submitted it.

Zuck: I don't know why.

Zuck: They "trust me"

Zuck: Dumb f--ks.

The authenticity of the transcript was not denied by Facebook, which later issued a statement saying: "The privacy and security of our users' information is of paramount importance to us. We're not going to debate claims from anonymous sources or dated allegations that attempt to characterise Mark's and Facebook's views towards privacy."

The leak and the reaction to it underscores Zuckerberg's current notoriety as internet's favourite whipping boy.

Facebook, which boasts a worldwide membership of more than 400 million, began altering its privacy policy in December. In January, Zuckerberg told an audience that privacy was no longer a "social norm".