I had an entire photoset, audio clips, and a story on the Cyber Safety panel ready to go, and then was told to head down to a bar a few blocks away. Why? Facebook Developer's Garage. Someone speaking for the second time this week, off the cuff, without a ditzy moderator.
The question about Facebook, Governments, and people's information. Mark brought up China, and went out of his way to explain that they follow the law, which is why they're not in China yet, but working on a way to do it right. I was impressed.
Also, Robert Scoble asked about his "deletion" incident from a few months back. MZ gave a vague answer about an "appeals" policy, which makes me think of a bunch of geeks in black robes channeling Antonin Scalia. Lessig for Facebook Court of Appeals?
I asked about Facebook's politics application, and if it'd be expanded to State and Local politics. The "party line" was that they'd leave that to an application developer. I can see how that'd be a problem. He apparently liked the question, though.
He also fielded a question on why Facebook doesn't have a Palestinian network. I can sympathize with the difficulty of answering this question for him as he wasn't going to give the guy, who I'll get a picture of ASAP, an answer he wanted. Zuckerberg said that Facebook's policy is to follow U.S. policy in recognizing "real countries." Tough question, good answer. Good for him.
Another highlight: special guest question by the I Can Has Cheezburger guy!
I'm going to confess that I've made a few critical comments about the guy, and I'll admit to doing a mental 180 on him and his company. Why? Simply talking to him, I can observe the pressure he's under and how hard it has to be to be just a bit younger than me and under a constant microscope, more than I can imagine. People kept coming up to me and asking me to take pictures, and then if I wanted to be in the picture. I declined to be in them. I can imagine how uncomfortable it has to be for people to want to be simply seen with you as opposed to talking with you like a normal human being.
Coders who make it big are often treated like celebrities. Give them some respect. Treat them like people.
Audio of the talk embedded above. I'll break it up into questions later when i have time. Pictures are on the Flickr stream.
Some highlights:
Looking much more comfortable without batshit crazy interviewer:
Scoble asks a question. He and I were right up front. You have no idea how painful it was to get this shot:
I Can Has Facebook Cheezburger?
Facebook party pictures tonight, plus more. Cyber Safety panel when I can do a coherent and proper write-up. Pictures are on Flickr.
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