California judge condemns startup for giving secret Facebook papers to UK

[turbinetree]

Parliament seized confidential documents under scrutiny in Six4Three’s lawsuit against social network

A California judge sharply criticized the legal team of the app developer that turned over confidential Facebook documents to the British parliament, accusing the attorneys of behavior that “shocks the conscience” and ordering them to hand over their client’s laptops and other evidence.

In a suburban courtroom in Silicon Valley – far from the jurisdiction of Westminster – Judge V Raymond Swope attempted to deal with the legal fallout from an extraordinary maneuver by the UK parliament, which last week seized highly confidential internal Facebook documents from Ted Kramer, founder of Six4Three, a former startup.

How Kramer, who has been pursuing a protracted legal battle against Facebook, came to provide those documents to Damian Collins, chair of the parliamentary committee that has been investigating Facebook over fake news, was under dispute as Facebook and Six4Three’s attorneys squared off Friday afternoon.

“What has happened is unconscionable,” Swope said from the bench. “It shocks the conscience. And your conduct is not well taken by this court.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/30/facebook-lawsuit-six4three-documents-court-uk


-snip-


Kramer said little at the hearing. His new attorney, hired Thursday, said he was working with an international firm to review British law and any ways they could attempt to retrieve the documents handed to parliament.

The original complaint alleged that Mark Zuckerberg created a “malicious and fraudulent scheme” to force rival firms out of business and exploit users’ personal data.

One key allegation is that Facebook allowed certain companies to maintain access to user data in exchange for increased spending on Facebook ads. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that some other redacted papers appeared to support that allegation.

Six4Three lawyers have also raised questions about Facebook’s exploitation of user privacy, citing the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

[sharedvalues]

1. UK are our *allies*, foolish judge

And he didn’t “give” the papers. Parliament coarced them with legal threats.

[More_Cowbell]

3. The documents were under seal, but he brought them to England

As part of the discovery process for his legal case against Facebook, he had received confidential documents that the judge ordered to be kept sealed, which is very common. And yet he (mistakenly, he says) had them on his laptop when he went to England.

It's not hard to imagine that he did it on purpose. His app (which searched through Facebook photos of the app users' FRIENDS--who hadn't signed up for the app--looking for photos of people in bathing suits) was no good after Facebook finally stopped allowing app developers access to the data of friends.

Facebook is sleazy as hell, but this guy is no prince, either.

[sharedvalues]

4. Under seal by US law. UK is a sovereign country, guys.

Documents “Under seal” can be transmitted on the internet, stored on servers that might be in different countries, and brought to other countries. That is all legal.

And the UK has a legal process to obtain documents.

(Note the judge is upset with the *attorneys* for sharing the documents with the plaintiff.)

Tough nuts, California judge. UK is a sovereign country, and if Facebook refuses to follow their legal processes (MZ has refused to show up for Parliament hearings), the UK has a right to follow their legal courses.

[PSPS]

2. Anything that helps take out facebook is ok with me