FACEBOOK: A LITTLE TOO SOCIAL NETWORK?
YOU might think former Facebook president Sean Parker, who described Justin Timberlake’s portrayal of him in the movie The Social Network as “a complete fiction,” may have reason to be slightly annoyed.
Trousersnake plays Parker as a Machiavellian, cocaine snorting wise guy who impresses a young Mark Zuckerberg by dating a Victoria’s Secret model.
So is he bitter? Certainly not: “I kind of wish my life were that cool,” he said.
The Social Network won three Golden Globe awards last week – for best drama, best director David Fincher and best screenplay, by Aaron Sorkin – and is tipped to sweep the board at the Oscars.
Parker is no stranger to controversy. He is the co-founder of peer-to-peer music-sharing service Napster, which was eventually shut down by US authorities after being involved in a long-running battle with the record industry over its apparent advocacy of piracy.
So which aspects of the The Social Network were fictionalised, wonders The Capitalist. “Well,” he explains, “there are no Victoria’s Secret models in Silicon Valley.”
MONEY FOR OLD PAPER
The Capitalist has always wondered why so many paper destruction lorries are seen loitering in the Square Mile, and recent figures explain why. Shred-It, the receipt and paper destroyer, has seen its revenues soar 18 per cent to £35m. It seems covering up the trail left by City boys is a booming business.
Apparently the surge in paper annihilation is due to new powers set in place last year that allow the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) to fine data criminals up to £500,000 fine for a “serious breach”. Hiring one of Shred-It’s 120 specially designed trucks to scrap your paper rather than your balance sheet seems an investment worth under-taking.