Goldman Sachs, Facebook & The CIA: Partners In Controlling the Web
Danny Panzella
TruthSquad.TV
Editors Note: This article was originally written in 2011 while "net neutrality" doctrine was being written. In light of current events I thought it was appropriate to republish.
1/3/2011
The New York Times reported yesterday head bankster Goldman Sachs is investing $450 million and Russian Internet investment firm Digital Sky Technologies is putting $50 million into Facebook.
Goldman is looking to raise another $1.5 billion from its wealthy private clients, offering them a chance to invest in Facebook, which is considering a public offering in 2010 according to people familiar with the matter.
Goldman reached out to its clients in an email on Sunday night offering them the opportunity to invest in an unnamed “private company that is considering a transaction to raise additional capital.” Another person briefed on the deal said that Goldman clients would have to pony up a minimum of $2 million to invest and would be prohibited from selling their shares until 2013. Goldman insider investors were warned they they would not be allowed to trade Facebook in secondary markets.
The investment will allow Facebook to increase its product line, lure investors and talent from other companies and pursue acquisitions of popular third party developers. Analysts put Facebook’s value at $56 Billion as a result of this deal.
Goldman is creating a “special purpose vehicle” which will end run around the S.E.C.’s requirement that companies with more than 499 investors to disclose their financial results to the public, because the vehicle would be considered one investor. The S.E.C. whose close ties to Goldman Sachs were revealed during the 2008 bailouts will likely look the other way.
Facebook also surpassed Google as the most visited Web site in 2010. According to several Internet tracking firms Facebook received 8.9 percent of all Web visits in the United States between January and November 2010. Google’s main site was second with 7.2 percent.
Representatives for Facebook, Goldman and Digital Sky Technologies all declined to comment although this deal will likely double the worth of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg who will reportedly be worth $15 billion.
“Privacy is an outdated concept” said Zuckerberg in Jan 2010. Facebook also disclosed in the sites Terms of Service in 2009 that Facebook can do whatever it wants with your information forever.
You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.
Which includes share your information with government agencies, intelligence and security agencies like the Orwellian Homeland Security, National Security Agency (also an admitted collaborator with Google) all at their own discretion, no warrants, no probable cause and no protection for Google or Facebook users. Hey, who needs the 4th and 5th amendment, if you don’t have anything to hide? Right?
Zuckerberg went on to say that a lot of companies would not have the courage to do what Facebook has done in terms of challenging social privacy norms. It is easy to have that kind of confidence when the CIA is invested in your company which itself is no surprise as Zuckerberg started the site while at Harvard the well known C.I.A. recruiting ground.
In-Q-Tel a venture capital firm established by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1999 invested 12.7 million dollars through Accel Partners to develop Facebook from a fledgling company into the worlds most visited website. One of the company’s key areas of expertise are in “data mining technologies”. In-Q-Tel maintains close ties to the Department of Defense and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) whose mission is to maintain the technological superiority of the U.S. and played a major role in the development of the internet according to Wikipedia.
Zuckerberg told 60 Minutes that Facebook will be the internet which dovetails with the FCC’s internet takeover. Facebook and Google by partnering with the Federal Government secure their stake as monopoly controllers of the internet once “Net Neutrality” takes effect.
“Net Neutrality” doctrine began to be implemented almost a decade ago when cable companies began offering “triple play” Internet/TV/Telephone packages. Under the FCC’s regulatory control consumers would be forced to buy an Internet/TV/Phone connectivity box that the government approves. The government will not only decide what you get to see, hear and read, but also how much you will pay. All content will be subject to the FCC’s regulatory whim and in effect becomes a free speech kill switch for the Federal Government.
Corporate/government ownership and control of Facebook is a far cry from Zuckerberg claiming he didn’t want a conglomerate owning Facebook.