Christopher Poole, better known to the internet as 4chan’s moot, spoke at TED 2010′s “Provocation” session.

moot, 21, was revealed as 4chan’s creator by the Wall Street Journal in 2008. He said in an interview with TIME on the same day his identity was disclosed that his “personal private life is very separate from (his) Internet life … There’s a firewall in between.” Which is fitting for a young man backed by an army known to the internet at large as “anonymous,” based in a community known primarily for it’s nameless, anything goes menu of pornography, schadenfraude and extraordinarily crass humor.

Indeed, /b/ wouldn’t be what it is without the ability to post anonymously, and moot is puzzled at the growing trend away from anonymity on the web. moot’s talk on the subject is particularly interesting in light of the growing privacy nightmare visited upon us this week in the form of Google Buzz- even the tech savviest among us found ourselves in awkward situations with current boy or girlfriends, former employers and random one-time acquaintances we may now randomly be “following.”

Interestingly, what seems to be one of the highest impact points of moot’s talk was the saga of Dusty the Cat, infamously tracked down in 48 hours by anonymous after one anon posted pictures of the cat being abused. Although a contradictory point on the surface, it kind of illustrates how privacy and the net really are an illusion. Ars Technica points out that moot “didn’t speak to the dangers” of mass internet anonymity, but the Dusty anecdote seems to illustrate that we may all be throwing the anonymous baby out with the social networking bathwater:

…he insisted that anonymity is a good thing, yet we’re all giving it up voluntarily. He wasn’t talking about the NSA or tech policy or anything like that. Rather, he said sites like 4chan may go the way of the dinosaur because people are choosing to join social networking sites and persistent identity services. One of the ‘Net’s greatest strengths is disappearing as a result, but moot claimed that sites like 4chan show that a lot of good can come of anonymity, too. He seemed puzzled as to why everyone wants their identity tied to so much of what they say and do online. Do people hold back? Do they censor themselves?

Reflecting on my own long-time internet tenure, I have personally scaled back my disclosure in a big way over the past few years. (Yes, the postings you read daily are the censored me. You’re welcome.) Reading over the Ars Technica post made me nostalgic for the days I said what I wanted on the internet, when real names weren’t required, and I knew and errant status update wouldn’t make it into the eyes of my mother, my boss or my best friend from junior high.

Perhaps it was inevitable, and the march towards living publicly on the internet is an unstoppable force. But it would be a sad, sad day if the last true unfiltered cross section of the web ceased existing. The internet doesn’t just know who you are at all times now- it knows where you are, how you’re feeling, what you’re eating and who you associate with. It kind of makes you long for a time and datestamp and a “‘sup /b/” on your disembodied left boob, doesn’t it?

[Ars Technica, Image]

4chan’s moot talks anonymity at TED 2010 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Although user reports about 4chan access on Verizon Wireless vary, the 4chan status blog reports that Verizon may have taken the inadvisable step of “explicitly” blocking the site.

4chan is famous in part for large scale retaliation against such censorship, and the internet is gleefully rubbing its sweaty palms together in anticipation of shenanigans against Verizon for blocking the popular imageboard. Moot has posted twice on the 4chan status blog seemingly confirming that the lack of access was a conscious decision by someone at Verizon:

Over the past 72 hours, we’ve been receiving reports from Verizon Wireless customers having difficulty accessing the image boards.

After investigating, we found that Verizon is dropping traffic to/from boards.4chan.org, only on port 80 (HTTP). No other subdomain/IP/port is affected, which leads us to believe this block is intentional.

A call was placed to their support staff last night, and we were told that the ticket would not be looked at until Monday at the earliest, and: “You’ll need the customer to call to request it be unblocked…”

If you’ve been affected by this block, please contact Verizon Wireless customer support. The numbers we were given are: “Verizon Wireless NRB: (866) 298-5373″ and “Verizon Wireless DSO: (800) 770-1179″.

Note: Users with mobile browsers that proxy (BlackBerry, Opera) won’t necessarily have issues accessing the boards.

And the follow up:

After an hour and a half on the phone, we’ve received confirmation from Verizon’s Network Repair Bureau (NRB) that we are “explicitly blocked.”

If you’ve been affected by the block, please call Verizon NRB at (866) 298-5373 to file a complaint.

EDIT: If NRB can’t help you, try Verizon Wireless Support at (800) 922-0204.

The Washington Post reports that if the site was deliberately blocked due to off-color content, Verizon may be violating FCC rules:

If true, the move would violate guidelines by the Federal Communications Commission that prohibit Internet service providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast from shutting down Web sites for their subscribers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is crafting controversial regulations that would make those principles stronger and allow the agency to punish companies that don’t treat all content equally on the Web.

However, a series of tweets just posted on the account of a man who describes himself as the “Verizon Wireless PR Guy” rapidly back away from the suggestion that the 4chan block was intentional:

@jlist No 4Chan block, but protecting network for users always top priority.

Buby23 4Chan has green-light again. Never a block on 4Chan but some of its other sites were launching network attacks.

@mediagadfly Some 4Chan web sites potentially disruptive of Verizon network now have green-light. We are monitoring network for harm

If that’s the position they’re taking, I hope they’ll take the time to explain why a representative for Verizon seems to have indicated otherwise.

Update: The PR rep above denies Verizon blocked 4chan for content:

Verizon doesn’t monitor wireless web connections for content, communication type or style. We will ward off attacks on our network.

Verizon Wireless blocks 4chan? is a post from: The Inquisitr

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 names 4chan founder Moot the most influential person in the world is a post from: The Inquisitr

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.

Time cheats on Time 100 vote to avoid giving the prize to 4chan’s Moot is a post from: The Inquisitr