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Facebook confirms restraining order against alleged Zuckerberg stalker

Maybe now Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will finally heed the many detractors who assail the social media empire'sof user privacy. Zuckerberg seems to have acquired his very own cyber-stalker on Facebook.

In a cryptic, Dec. 22, 2010, Facebook message sent at 3:45 a.m. to Zuckerberg, a 31-year-old man named Pradeep Manukonda wrote, "Please Mark ... time is really running out for me .. please help me. I really need your help ... please respond in time... before it get too late for us,,, I owe entire my life at your service .. please help me , then i am ready to die for you," . (The ellipses and grammatical errors are his own.)

Of course, it can be fairly easy for a tech business titan to ignore such appeals on his Facebook account. But Manukonda apparently supplemented his online appeals with deliveries of flowers to Zuckerberg, appearances at Facebook's Palo Alto, Calif., offices and visits to Zuckerberg's home.

So Zuckerberg filed legal papers claiming Manukonda attempted to "follow, surveil and contact [him] using language threatening his personal safety" as well as the safety of Zuckerberg's girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, and his sister, Randi Zuckerberg, according to TMZ. The site also reports that Manukonda is the subject of restraining orders from the two Zuckerbergs and Chan, requiring the alleged stalker to keep at least 300 yards away from all of them.

"We can confirm the restraining order, but have no further details toprovide," Andrew Noyes, a spokesman for Facebook, told The Cutline.

For his part, Manukonda claims it was all a big misunderstanding.

"I'm a peaceful guy ... I'm sorry he thought I was trying to harm him," hein a subsequent report. "I thought Mark would be able to give me advice."

(Photo: AP)