Week 2: IT Governance | Peer discussion| Michael Lafnear posted Apr 12, 2022 12:39 PM | Homework Writings

Michael Lafnear posted Apr 12, 2022 12:39 PM

Dictionary.com describes social networking as a “dedicated website or application to interact with other users, or find people with similar interest.” We could describe social networking as our old America Online (f.1983) chatrooms, or software applications like virtual chat, CompuServe (f.1994) etc. However, social medias biggest influence has come to us recently with the use and implementation of Facebook and Myspace on the world wide web. The suit in question The Facebook, inc v. ConnectU, I believe is a viable lawsuit which was settled for $65 million. I would honestly say if their was proper evidence to show that Naraendra, Winklevoss, started the social networking idea, layout and concept it would be argued they were the first in concept. Where as Mark Zuckerberg was hired as third person in line for programming duties. I believe in this case, if we read on Mark Zuckerberg used some of his ideas and those of ConnectU’s project and put them into one. Although as we learned in our readings he was scorned for his project as the university believed he violated the universities policies (Ferrera, 2011). I believe Mr. Zuckerberg in this case did show signs of greed as he was already registering domains and doing his own social networking projects in lieu of working with the plaintiffs in this case. Also, when reading further into our assigned pages we can see others who had an influence with potential networking sites in the postscripts. In this regard I would argue this. Did Toyota have a right to go after other Hybrid vehicle manufacturers? Did Porsche go after Toyota since they did it first in 1899 (Energy.gov)? I believe the idea or execution of the idea could both be vitally important. If the concept is written and legalized as a document such as a patent or trademark, that idea should have protection. However, if that idea is never followed through, and that potential patent expires or fails, I believe those who put the idea into concept and code would have that legal right. For instance, Maze War developers don’t own the sole rights to first person shooters, although an argument could be made they did it first (1974). In the case of ConnectU I do believe their was a justification for a potential law suit as was settled in a confidential agreement, now made public. In this specific case it wasn’t a long distance idea taken and modified and use for monetary gain. The case claims that Zuckerberg worked alongside ConnectU founders and stole ideas during their time at Harvard. Should the case be reevaluated or given my personal opinions on, I believe all parties were in a state of greed and wanting to go their own way. I don’t see that this group functioned well as a team. As a programmer, this project and typed code is the intellectual property of the coder and is considered literary work which allows it to be copyright (Clement, 2018). Plaintiffs needs to have more specific evidence. As was this case with Mark Zuckerberg and ConnectU’s lawsuit. ConnectU once an agreement was made, found further proof of facts to be included in the case but it was to late. They needed to approach the courts with this vital information prior to any settled upon agreement. You cannot have the same case on trial twice and this is almost the approach they were taking in this case. Defendants should also have the proof stacked in their favor. In the case where Mark Zuckerberg coded over 10 hours in their project he could of easily commented that code, took screenshots of the code and project and all his work. Or in a better situation where you know it has potential business, make contracts. References:Ferrera, G. R., Reder, M.E. K., Lichtenstein, S. D., Bird, R., Darrow, J. J.,