Rolling Stone replows old ground on Zuckerberg, Facebook

Don’t bother reading the Rolling Stone story (dated June 26) on Mark Zuckerberg and “The Battle for Facebook.” It has been done before. And better.

Late last year, 02138, the magazine for Harvard alums, published a long story by Luke O’Brien about whether Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook, based in part on the legal challenges from the founders of ConnectU, a rival social networking firm.

The documents O’Brien found in court records are still posted after 02138 successfully fought a legal challenge from Zuckerberg.

Claire Hoffman, the author of the Rolling Stone piece, doesn’t acknowledge O’Brien’s heavy lifting. But give her credit for a couple of interesting observations:

At one point she calls Zuckerberg “a Nietzschean superdork for the digital age.” Near the end, she sums up: “And the fact that many consider Zuckerberg a grade-A asshole doesn’t mean he did anything illegal.”

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