If it weren’t for Slashdot, Mark Zuckerberg wouldn’t be facing a six-hour deposition over alleged involvement in the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, argues long-time Slashdot reader theodp:
In 2003, Harvard’s student newspaper the Harvard Crimson reported that Zuck’s programming skills attracted attention from the likes of Microsoft and others following a 2003 Slashdot post. That post — titled Machine Learning and MP3s — described how “Students at Caltech [freshman Adam D’Angelo, Quora CEO and co-founder] and Harvard [freshman Zuck] developed a system that analyzes playlists and learns people’s listening patterns.” The playlist-making software, Synapse AI, was Zuck’s high school senior project at Phillips Exeter Academy.
Interestingly, in a modded-up comment (“Informative”) on the post, Slashdot user Mark Zuckerberg vowed to protect user privacy. “And a note about privacy,” promised Zuck. “None of your musical listening data will be available to anyone other than you. We hope to use massive amounts of data