4chan and anonymity

Marc Savlov interviewed me for this article in the Austin Chronicle, generally about anonymity on the Internet and specifically about 4chan. I hope I made the point that anonymity is a wicked problem (what is identity, anyway?), and that it’s sometimes a solution (as in police states, viva Tor). Coincidentally I had interviewed the phenomenal Tom Jennings yesterday for Plutopia News Network, and when he saw the Chronicle article, he sent this link to to a paper he’d written about 4chan. “The effect of the code mechanisms chosen by 4chan encloses a robust
and stable culture of a form and shape not possible in more finely
controlled environments, and that code is deceptively simple.” Christopher Poole, aka Moot, creator of 4chan, will deliver a keynote at 2pm Sunday, March 13, at SXSW Interactive.

Author: Jon Lebkowsky

Co-wrangler of Plutopia News Network, cohost Radio Free Plutopia. Podcaster, writer, dharma observer, enzyme. Former editor/publisher, FringeWare Review; associate editor at bOING bOING and Factsheet Five; writer at Mondo 2000, 21C, Wired, Whole Earth Review, Austin Chronicle; sub-editor at Millennium Whole Earth Catalog; blogger at Worldchanging. Digital culture maven, podcaster, writer, dharma observer, enzyme. On The WELL, Cohost of VC (virtual communities), Media, and Civil War (.ind) conferences.