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Let's Rewrite Securities Law for Facebook

Ryan Tate · 11/08/11 10:21PM

Two senators introduced legislation to help Facebook further evade a 47-year-old SEC disclosure rule and take on a slew of new investors. Because that's the problem in America lately, you see: Corporations are too well regulated, and we know too much about the inner workings of large, heavily capitalized institutions.

Mark Zuckerberg Successfully Trolls Google

Ryan Tate · 11/08/11 02:49PM

Mark Zuckerberg delights in tweaking his lumbering rival Google. He stole the company's operations chief, and some of its best engineers. Now he's mocked the company's "little" rival social network, successfully provoking a response. Such a twerp!

Facebook's CEO Is Way Into His Human Girlfriend

Ryan Tate · 11/07/11 07:29PM

Mark Zuckerberg was once so obsessed with programming his girlfriend demanded a written contract guaranteeing alone time. But the Facebook CEO and ranking Borg commander on Planet Earth has, apparently, softened, telling Charlie Rose he spends long stretches with his girl, his dog, and their massive, empty mansion.

Whose Facebook Friend Requests Should You Accept?

Brian Moylan · 11/07/11 05:14PM

I've seen two things on the internet today about whether or not people should accept friend requests from certain people. I thought this was an easy decision, but the cowed internet legions out there have turned it into an existential question that needs input from French philosophers. So, here's a handy guide on whether or not to hit "Confirm" or "Not Now."

Your Ex Will Violate Your Facebook and You'll Help Him Do It

Ryan Tate · 11/07/11 03:27PM

The problem with amassing huge troves of digital information is that, sooner or later, someone will try and nab one of them. Like the twisted judge in Connecticut who ordered divorcing spouses to swap Facebook and online dating passwords, and the other judges following in his footsteps.

Old People on Facebook Discover Memes

Adrian Chen · 11/04/11 02:36PM

Facebook users have been puzzled by a disturbance in their feeds. Strange pictures with bold, funny phrases superimposed over them? It's happened: Old people on Facebook have finally discovered the image macro.

The CIA Monitors Twitter, World's Most Accurate News Source

Adrian Chen · 11/04/11 09:56AM

The CIA spends all day on Twitter and Facebook, just like you. And they're using them to keep the president and government officials informed of world events. What does the #4wordsbeforesex trending topic mean for the American People?

Facebook Nabs Its Foe from Ireland

Ryan Tate · 11/03/11 06:49PM

Facebook does not forgive, and Facebook does not forget, at least not when it comes to Paul Ceglia, the upstate New York entrepreneur who tried to win control of the social network in court. Having run off to Ireland in the wake of evidence he may have fabricated evidence, Ceglia has been told to return. You can run, but you cannot hide, from the great social network in the sky.

Mark Zuckerberg Is a Homewrecker

Ryan Tate · 11/03/11 02:25PM

Silicon Valley warps the mind. In the real world, your health, family, and friends are most important. In the Valley, they're what you trade for speed, buzz, and valuation, as illustrated in a heartbreaking scene from the Facebook-Google war.

Woman Burns Down Friend's House For Defriending Her on Facebook

Seth Abramovitch · 11/03/11 01:49AM

One day, years from now, Jennifer Christine Harris will scroll back to this week on her Facebook Timeline and regret everything she sees. (She'll also be, like, "I still don't get the point of Facebook Timeline. The interface is so confusing and the pictures are way too big!") The Des Moines native was arrested for having allegedly set fire to the home of Nikki Rasmussen, an old friend, while Nikki and her husband Jim were fast asleep. The person Jim instantly suspected was Harris, with whom his wife was having an ongoing dispute. It had played out on the pages of Facebook.

The Biological Reason You Have Too Many Facebook Friends

Brian Moylan · 11/02/11 02:20PM

So many people think that the more Facebook friends they have, the better. Wrong! In an excerpt from his just released book You Are Not So Smart David McRaney explains "Dunbar's Number" and why trying to keep in touch with more than 150 people, even on Facebook, is a biological impossibility.

Mommy Made Me an Online Delinquent

Ryan Tate · 11/01/11 07:49PM

Researchers discovered the weak link in child protection laws: Parents. A federal rule designed to keep stalky marketers away from kids is being thwarted by moms and dads seeking to expose their kids to... stalky marketers, of the sort bundled into Facebook. We clearly need new laws, but a new set of parents wouldn't hurt, either.

Google Can Now See Your Embarrassing Facebook Comments

Ryan Tate · 11/01/11 12:22PM

Think hard, because this is important: Have you ever called anyone a moronic sack of monkey pus in a Facebook-powered web comment? Because Google has just begun indexing those comments for the first time. In other words, your troll resumé just merged with your Google persona. How exciting.

600,000 Facebook Logins Are Hijacked Every Day

Adrian Chen · 10/28/11 11:39AM

Facebook thought it was bragging when it announced recently that just 0.06% of its 1 billion daily user logins were made by hijacked accounts. But that's a hell of a lot of logins by hackers and spammers: 600,000/day, according to Sophos. Their new incredibly complicated super-friends scheme should fix this.

Facebook Introduces Super-Friends

Ryan Tate · 10/27/11 05:56PM

Facebook is getting complicated. The social network just introduced the category of "trusted friend," not to be confused with the prior categories of "close friends," "acquaintances," "restricted" buddies, and authorized stalkers. Trusted friends are like super-friends. They have special powers!

Facebook Is Building an Arctic Swedish Base

Adrian Chen · 10/27/11 11:06AM

Facebook just announced plans to build a giant data center 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. Of course. Any evil, world-dominating corporation worth its salt must have an Arctic Doom Base.

Die, Facebook, Die

Adrian Chen · 10/26/11 03:46PM

More and more people are hating Facebook in increasingly effective ways, and for increasingly better reasons. Good times. Too bad it will probably do nothing to keep Facebook from transforming the internet into an unbearably bland prison-mall.