The Inquisitr » 4chan

4chan vs. Twilight, XKCD style

Kim LaCapria — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:58:27 +0000

Earlier this week, the AT&T vs. 4chan controversy brought the internet’s collective reverence of Anonymous to the mainstream media.

People across the web gleefully anticipated the telecommunications giant getting its ass handed to it for censoring /b/. AT&T quickly backed down, but not after letting us all know they were censoring sites for the hell of it. At the time of the incident, 40-60 million Americans were prevented from accessing parts of the site.

But is there anyone who could take on 4chan fearlessly? (NSFW language.)

[Image: XKCD]

AT&T un-bans 4chan

Paul Short — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:04:00 +0000

AT&T has lifted the ban on the infamous 4chan image boards, stating that a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack connected with 4chan’s IP addresses was affecting one of their customers.

In an official statement from AT&T:

“Beginning Friday, an AT&T customer was impacted by a denial-of-service attack stemming from IP addresses connected to img.4chan.org. To prevent this attack from disrupting service for the impacted AT&T customer, and to prevent the attack from spreading to impact our other customers, AT&T temporarily blocked access to the IP addresses in question for our customers. This action was in no way related to the content at img.4chan.org; our focus was on protecting our customers from malicious traffic.

Overnight Sunday, after we determined the denial-of-service threat no longer existed, AT&T removed the block on the IP addresses in question. We will continue to monitor for denial-of-service activity and any malicious traffic to protect our customers.”

Source: BNO News

Censorship comes to America: AT&T blocks 4chan /b/

Duncan Riley — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:54:15 +0000

The global internet censorship debate landed in the home of the free Sunday with news that AT&T has censored the popular 4chan /b/ image board.

The censorship was first reported on Reddit, where users confirmed with AT&T that the site had indeed been censored, and was not being blocked due to a technical issue. 4chan owner Moot later confirmed the news, saying that the /r9k/ was also blocked and that AT&T users should “call or write [to] customer support and [AT&T] corporate immediately.”

The censorship at this time extended only to AT&T DSL customers, with wireless (3G) customers believed to be unaffected. Erling Løken Andersen notes that 15.5% of all US internet users use AT&T DSL, meaning that /b/ is now blocked somewhere around 40-60 million people in the United States.

There is no official word from AT&T on the decision yet, and given that it’s Sunday still in the US none is likely until business hours Monday. 4chan users though aren’t particularly happy about the decision, with /b/tards currently discussing ways to fight back against the imposition of censorship.

The decision by AT&T to censor /b/ may also further spark further debate around net neutrality; love or hate 4chan, the decision by a provider to start censoring sites is the beginning of a slippery slope to unaccountable corporate imposed draconian censorship that should have no place in allegedly free democratic societies.

There is also the question of why censor /b/ now and not previously? Could a third party such as Scientology have lobbied for the decision?

More Assistance from Anonymous for Iran [#iranElection]

Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:31:36 +0000

Iranian activists are receiving more support from the 4chan inspired group Anonymous in a joint project with ThePirateBay, according to a report from crowd-sourced news site NowPublic:

Going well beyond greening their Twitter avatars, the two groups (along with support from other equally anonymous “internet-friendly forces” have set up Anonymous Iran — a new website with a forum that offers, as Wired notes, “tips on how to navigate online in private, upload files through the Iranian firewall, find the best activist Tweeters, and launch attacks on pro-government websites”.

Noah Scachtman at Wired’s Danger Room also has the story, along with a roundup of ThePirateBay’s current run of success:

The new site offers tips on how to navigate online in private, upload files through the Iranian firewall, find the best activist Tweeters, and launch attacks on pro-government websites.

This week, The Pirate Bay launched its virtual private network service that promises to mask users’ identities online. More than 180,000 people have already signed up. Earlier this month, Sweden’s Pirate Party won a seat in the European Union Parliament, after outrage about the file-sharers conviction erupted.

This also follows other, less publicized reports that 4chan and Fark has been helping to organize do-it-yourself proxy kits and DDoS attacks.

The Diminishing Role of Government in the Social Media Age [#iranElection]

Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:10:26 +0000

What if I were to tell you that the somewhat infamous image board 4chan was currently playing an instrumental role with how the US is perceived in Iran, currently. That would be a scary thought to most of us who are familiar with the reputation the site has, and probably a bit scary to a good portion of the message board’s participants, too, I’d wager.

I’ll get back to that tidbit in a moment, though. Many of us in the blogosphere as well as those reporting in the mainstream media have focused on the role that Twitter has played in facilitating communication within Iran for the now seemingly millions of protestors calling for a recount and fair election. When you examine what some are saying, like Harvard senior researcher Ethan Zuckerman, Twitter isn’t what Iranians are using, primarily, to talk to other Iranians:

“Social media is not at all a prime mover of what is happening on the ground,” says Ethan Zuckerman, a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society…

“The people I know mainly tell me they hear about these protests from friends or by SMS,” [Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council] says.

So exactly why is Twitter getting all the attention it’s getting right now? The public perception, which is incidentally the same perception apparently shared by the US State Department, is that the status microblogging service is facilitating the revolution, there. I think Matthew DeVries best expressed that sentiment in a thread on Friendfeed about the State Department’s acknowlegement of Twitter:

[Evan Williams] is now sitting there thinking “This is the finger I use to turn on and off the revolution of the second biggest country in the middle east, and it’s the same finger I use to scratch my ass” – Matthew DeVries

If that sentiment isn’t correct, what is the proper sentiment? Ryan Tate at Valleywag has a theory:

While Twitter might not be drawing large crowds to marches, it is unquestionably useful for publishing news in an atmosphere of suppression. This disproportionately benefits foreign news organizations and the American digerati, so it’s no wonder these elites are the ones most loudly trumpeting Twitter as a crucial instrument of communication on the Iran situation.

Still, these benefactors would do well to remind their readers that, with regard to Twitter and actual Iranians in Iran, the medium has not yet become the message.

That’s one angle to take, I suppose. The truth is that the days of it being primarily “media elite” as the only users of Twitter, as Ryan puts it, are long past. Most Twitter users use Twitter as it was intended – as a way to communicate with their close friends. That means, for most people, when news is important, it finds them.

And news did find most of us on Twitter, regardless of media blackout or other governmentally imposed technological limitations. Twitter (and as the numbers telling us now – Facebook) was the conduit by which news found us.

What Was That About 4chan You Were Saying?

I happened upon a SlashDot thread earlier this evening that was incredibly illuminating. The conversations taking place on that thread were, as is common on the site, a lot more interesting than what the article was about.

The original article was an examination of early 90’s science fiction’s view of cyberwar juxtaposed with the reality of what is going on now. The threads that emerged below that painted a much more nuanced picture of what’s going on within the various tight-knit communities outside what is traditionally considered the “Web 2.0” bubble.

For instance, it appears that news discovery and discussion community Fark is playing an intregral role in the creation and dissemination of proxy servers to those in Iran who are looking to regain Internet access:

Re: Fark
Threads on Fark have reached over 20K posts. People are setting up proxy servers to allow outgoing Twitter messages (bypassing Iranian firewall filters), with several people giving out do-it-yourself proxy kits. There is an active Go Green campaign and protests planned in many cities. Posting of relevant Twitter messages to keep everyone informed.

Even more surprising is that 4chan is doing a lot of the same stuff, with an added flair one might imagine is more their style.

Not to mention 4chan, but…
Those mischievous denizens over at 4chan have apparently managed to throw up over 9000 proxies and waged a very effective series of denial of service attacks against the Iranian government. Somebody send those guys some Redbull and Cheetos!

any story about this that doesn’t mention Fark…
Anyone that writes a story about this that doesn’t mention Fark specifically needs to do a bit more research on the subject. Tats(uma) obviously gets quite a bit of credit, but he wasn’t the only person there keeping up with the tweets. Fark (and oddly, 4chan) became major filters for finding the real data for the first several days. I’m amazed at the people who still don’t know there’s effectively a civil war going on in Iran, since CNN and other mainstream media didn’t really start reporting on it until yesterday.

It’s interesting to note this because these types of communities are generally known for their chaotic style and wild antics, that on when they occasionally spill out into the real world are generally portrayed in a somewhat negative light.

It is these sorts of actually helpful actions by Fark, 4chan, and members of their community who’ve sparked up projects outside of those communities that are acting as ambassadors to the people of Iran, and having an unmitigated effect on how Americans are percieved in that country.

Re:Listen…
There have already been messages from Iranians acknowledging the support they’re getting from Americans and expressing their surprise and gratitude, even while acknowledging a lack of coverage by US media. If the Iranian people understand that the American people are their friends, they will be considerably less likely to view America as an enemy and considerably more likely to oppose an anti-American viewpoint by their own government.

This is more about Americans bonding with Iranians than it is about the US government bonding with the Iranian government.

We’re Not Just Diminishing the Role of Heritage Media, but Government Itself

In a way, it is this wider picture of social media that really turned on the lightbulb for me. Those of us in the field of journalism, in the blogosphere, and in social media punditry world have been focused on the role of Twitter in changing the paradigm of Heritage Media news outlets like CNN through crowd-sourced news gathering.

There have been a lot of salient things said to that affect, and you may hear one or two more salient thoughts from me before I’m talked out on the topic, but what dawned on me is that governments and traditional media have for a long time acted as a hard and fast barrier between the peoples of countries on opposite sides of the world.

Despite language barriers and technological difficulties – or perhaps because they existed – two countries that for decades have been imagining the worst of one another came together in solidarity for the cause of freedom.

When I say they came together, I don’t mean it in a “I’ll change my profile icon green for a few days” sort of way, but in a “let’s mobilize our community to provide tactical and strategic support for your community” sort of way.

This is the stuff that we have traditionally relegated to all of our respective shadow governments and intelligence organizations in the past, and a quick perusal throughout modern history shows the monumental fail after monumental fail that typically results in.

It’s no longer the case that we as citizens must yell and scream at our governments to make an overt public statement of support – we can do that for ourselves in a way they’ll hear. We don’t have to call our congressmen and ask for them to lobby the intelligence sub-committee to increase funding to the program being used to develop better technology to aid distressed and oppressed people – we can simply wrap it up in a .rar file and send it to them.

That’s what’s happening now, and it’s simply impressive to watch.

Time names 4chan founder Moot the most influential person in the world

Duncan Riley — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:10:00 +0000

Time Magazine has named Christopher Poole (aka Moot), the founder of 4chan, the most influential person in the world.

The annual most influential person poll included as nominees US President Barack Obama, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Angelina Jolie, the Dali Lama, and many many other well known world leaders and celebrities.

In an open, free and transparent vote, Moot recieved 16,794,368 votes for an average influence rating of 90 (out of a possible 100). Runner up, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, received 2,316,278 votes with an influence rating of 47/ 100.

The screenshot below does not reflect the final number of votes, but does accurately reflect the order when voting was finalized.

Time cheats on Time 100 vote to avoid giving the prize to 4chan’s Moot

Duncan Riley — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:35:52 +0000

When the result isn’t going the way you want it to, there’s only one thing to do: cheat. And that’s what Time Magazine has done in the voting for 2009’s Time 100.

As we reported yesterday, Moot, the founder and owner of 4chan was topping the list with 275,000 votes with an average score of 75/100. Today Moot has 280,000 votes with an average score of 53/100 and is in 3rd place…but not before going lower, as the pic above that is currently doing the rounds demonstrates. The likelihood of Moot obtaining 5,000 additional votes in 24 hours and droping that much rank, while at the same time Jon Stewart doubled his total votes is impossible. Note also that the places are ranked by score, not total votes, but how you’d drop down that number out of 100 with 5000 votes from 280,000 is again impossible. Moot has been hobbled.

4chan founder Moot topping Time 100 poll

Duncan Riley — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:45:58 +0000

Could the founder and owner of 4chan be named as 2009’s most influential person in the annual Time 100 list?

Christopher Poole, who goes by the name of Moot is included as one of 203 nominees, and at the time of writing tops the voting list with 275,000 votes for an average score of 75 out of 100. In second place is TV host Jon Stewart with 158,900 votes for a score of 71 from 100.

Other nominees include CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe, Barrack Obama and the cast of The View. Ron Paul maintains his strong support base, currently sitting in 3rd position.

You can vote for Moot here.

4chan /b/ goes after cat abusers, wins

Duncan Riley — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:28:10 +0000

Rule 1 and 2 of the internet prohibits me from mentioning their name, but sometimes praise should be forthcoming.

A video of two men abusing a cat surfaced on YouTube late last week, and members of /b/ took it upon themselves to bring the sickos to justice.

The video was quickly narrowed down to prime suspects, primarily through the help of /b/, and local authorities arrested the men.

Many have been quick to criticize /b/ in the past, but today at least you can’t doubt one thing: they love cats. Before the arrest, the forum was full of in memory of the cat posts, pictures, and even threats to do to the cat abusers what they did to the cat.

Here’s the SFW local news footage:

No related posts.

Interior Crocodile Alligator the new Rickroll?

Duncan Riley — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:00:59 +0000

Heard of Interior Crocodile Alligator before? The loop from rapper Chip tha Ripper is starting to pick up steam in what some have suggested is the new Rickroll.

The tune (if you can call it that) consists of the following words over and over: “Interior crocodile alligator, I drive a Chevrolet movie theater” the actual words used by the original artist.

The meme first emerged on YMNTD and Something Awful late last year, and has had a number of popularity spikes, but with the novelty of Rick Rolling wearing off, certainly looks like it could be the new big thing in musical pranks.

Encyclopedia Dramatica has this to say on the song though:

Interior Crocodile Alligator (I Drive a Chevrolet Movie Theater) is the name given to a sound clip of a rap song that has serious potential to become the next Rickroll. Like its predecessor, it’s annoying, gets stuck in your head, and is easy to loop onto a misleading YouTube video. Though, unlike rickroll, it sucks and was never funny.

There’s also a strong body of remixes to be found on YouTube, including a mix of this song and Rick Astley here.

Bill O’Reilly’s website hacked

Duncan Riley — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:20:37 +0000

Unknown intruders have gained access to conservative Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s website, days after new broke that Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account had been accessed.

According to Wikileaks, which as posted proof of the attack, the hack came in retaliation for remarks O’Reilly made condemning the attack on Palin’s Yahoo email account. O’Reilly said among other things

“I’m not going to mention the website that posted this, but it’s one of those despicable, slimy, scummy websites…Everybody knows where this stuff is, OK, and they know the people who run the website, so why can’t they go there tonight to the guy’s house who runs it, put him in cuffs and take him down and book him?”

Screenshots on Wikileaks show the admin interface from O’Reilly’s site, including including names, email addresses, passwords, and home town details of 20 subscribers of the website. The Register reports that details of 205 subscribers were intercepted, according to the company that maintains the O’Reilly website.

4chan /b/ in the spotlight over Palin email hacking

Duncan Riley — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:18:49 +0000

As we covered earlier, Sarah Palin’s email account on Yahoo has been hacked, and screenshots of her email, and private family photos published online.

The group taking responsibility is the infamous “Anonymous,” (the name is a label more than a group, applied to users acting towards a similar objective), organized primarily on the 4chan /b/ message board.

The following appeared on the 4chan /b/ message board this afternoon. It may simply be a /b/tard having some fun, but it might not be either

Hello Members of 4Chan.org. The FBI in conjunction with Secret Service and DOJ is requesting records of IP and posting information from the administrators of this site. We are offering a limited time offer of limited immunity to those who confess to the recent hacking of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account. Those who step forward with evidence will be treated leniently, while the full force of law will be applied to those captured at a later date.

You may turn yourself in via report to The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) [ http://www.ic3.gov/] or you may call your local FBI office or call (202) 278-2000 and ask to be directed to Special Agent Henry Stewart at Bureau HQ in Washington, DC.

The contact details are correct, although the name given has also been used in spam emails before, so we can’t confirm if there is indeed a Special Agent Henry Stewart.

Either way, the McCain-Palin camp is furious over the hacking, and we know from news reports that an investigation involving the FBI and Secret Service has definitely underway, and that puts the spotlight directly on /b/.

Could the /b/ fun now be over? 4chan has survived other incidents, including terrorist threats and other posts that led to the arrest of people planning homicidal rampages. The lawyers from Scientology couldn’t bring the site down, but hacking the email account of the possible next Vice President of the United States takes matters to whole new levels. 4chan just hit the political radar big time, and no one knows for sure what will follow.

Update: Michaelle Malkin has the details on how the hack to place, and what followed. Looks like a lone individual, with /b/ as the conduit for the information, so certainly less heat on 4chan for now. However the point still remains: 4chan is on the Republicans radar, and in the result goes there way in November, don’t think they’re going to forget the incident.