Thread by @cfarivar

Since I began at @NBCNews about 2 mo ago, a substantial portion of my time has been taken up working on this story, with @oliviasolon.

The result: "Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show"

https://twitter.com/oliviasolon/status/1118138216761184256

@NBCNews @oliviasolon I had reported some on Six4Three, Pikinis, and Ted Kramer before, back at @arstechnica.

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

And my mini-scoop, about the only other lawsuit like Six4Three v. Facebook:

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

@NBCNews @oliviasolon @arstechnica That left me with a basic question: why doesn’t Ted Kramer have any allies?

After @oliviasolon and I began digging around, we eventually were connected to the legendary @dcampbell_iptv, who shared with us thousands of never-before-seen pages from that lawsuit.

@NBCNews @oliviasolon @arstechnica @dcampbell_iptv Some of these documents were given by Kramer to MP @DamianCollins, who published hundreds of pages here:

documentcloud.org/documents/5775…

The new, fuller cache of docs is very much like this, but more so.

It includes the phrase “master of leverage,” which we could not have invented.

@NBCNews @oliviasolon @arstechnica @dcampbell_iptv @DamianCollins Judge Swope, the San Mateo Co. judge presiding over Six4Three v. Facebook, was not happy when Kramer gave docs to @DamianCollins.

In a rare move, he granted the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege.

Translation: judge is not happy.

documentcloud.org/documents/5771…

“The evidence reflects that Six4Three, through its principal Mr. Kramer, utilized the services of counsel to aid in committing a crime or fraud,” Judge Swope wrote in his order, which he read from the bench during a March 2019 hearing.

“Prior to traveling to the United Kingdom with documents containing Facebook's confidential information, Mr. Kramer communicated with Mr. Collins on finding an ‘appropriate mechanism’ to disclose to DCMS similar to the communications of 643’s counsel to target third parties.”

Since we told Facebook about the fact that we have this cache of docs, just last week, its attorneys went back to court to convince Judge Swope to grant an expedited deposition of Kramer and his business partner, Tom Scaramellino, or bring them to court.

documentcloud.org/documents/5837…

Judge Swope has yet to rule on this motion.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Kramer swore under penalty of perjury he was not the source of the leaks.

documentcloud.org/documents/5912…

Scaramellino did too.

documentcloud.org/documents/5912…

It’s also worth noting that nearly a year ago, AFTER Zuck testified before two Senate committees, Facebook submittted ~500 pages of written responses. I might be the only person who read them.

Facebook did not answer many of the senators’ questions.

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

During that 2018 senate hearing, Zuck repeated one of Facebook’s favorite talking points, “We do not sell data to advertisers," @JohnCornyn had a quick comeback that has stuck with me: “You clearly rent it.”

c-span.org/video/?c472456…

HI INTERNET:

@oliviasolon and I aren’t done for the day!

"Inside bikini-photo startup Six4Three's scrappy battle to put Facebook on trial”

nbcnews.com/tech/social-me…

“It’s like we are fishing in this tiny boat with no one else around and we somehow managed to hook a massive great white shark on our line,” Kramer said in his first extensive public comments on the case, a lengthy emailed response to questions that were screened by his attorney.

Also, worth noting that in a Six4Three hearing held last month in San Mateo Co. court, Judge V. Raymond Swope said:

“This case is a matter of first impression in the court. There are no cases that have summaries or fact patterns like this one.”