Facemash: hot or not?

The first iteration of Facebook, which then-student Mark Zuckerberg launched at Harvard University in 2003, was known as "Facemash", and was based on a popular website of the day, Am I Hot or Not? Using photographs of students scraped from those collected by the university's houses of residence, the site showed users pairs of randomly selected photographs and asked them to choose the "hotter" person in order to compile student attractiveness rankings. Zuckerberg was forced to take the site down after he was charged by the computer services department with breaching security, violating copyrights, and violating individual privacy. The site remained down, but the Administrative Board allowed Zuckerberg to remain as a student. Any other sanctions against Zuckerberg were not disclosed.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/19/facemash-creator-survives-ad-board-the/
Tags: Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Facemash, Harvard University
Writer: Katharine A. Kaplan
Publication: The Harvard Crimson