4chan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
4chan

The 4chan homepage on January 26, 2009
URL http://www.4chan.org/
Commercial? Yes
Type of site Imageboard
Registration None available
Available language(s) English
Owner "moot"
Launched October 1, 2003[1]

4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards are primarily used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime. Users generally post anonymously and the site has been linked to internet subcultures and activism, most notably Project Chanology.

4chan users have been responsible for the formation and/or popularization of Internet memes such as lolcats, rickrolling, and "Chocolate Rain". The site's "/b/" board is by far its most popular and notorious. It is known as the "random" board in which there are minimal rules on posted content. Gawker.com once claimed in jest that "reading /b/ will melt your brain".[2]

The site's Anonymous community and culture has often provoked media attention. For planners, this enterprise is "further proof [as well as the YouTube phenomenon] that creativity is everywhere and new media is less accessible" to advertisement agencies.[3] Journalists looked at how an internet destination was hijacked for a prank, so that images of Rick Astley appeared instead of the page that was searched for; the coordination of attacks against other websites and Internet users; and covered the reaction to threats of violence that have been posted on the site. The Guardian once summarised the 4chan community as "lunatic, juvenile... brilliant, ridiculous and alarming."[4]

Contents

Background

4chan was started in 2003 in the bedroom of a then 15-year-old student from New York City who used and uses the pseudonym "moot".[5] He intended the site to be a place to discuss Japanese comics and television shows, an American counterpart to the popular Japanese Futaba Channel ("2chan") imageboard.[6][7] Moot purchased the server space for 4chan using his mother's credit card, with her permission.[5][8] Prior to starting 4chan, moot had been a regular participant on the Something Awful forums.[9]

The activity of 4chan takes place on message boards and imageboards.[2][7] The website is split into six categories: Japanese culture, Interests, Creative, Adult (18+), Other, and Misc (18+). These provide for on-topic boards to discuss anime, manga, technology, sport, photography, music, hentai, torrents, travel, physical fitness, as well as a random board. 4chan originally hosted discussion boards on a separate domain called "world4ch", but these were later moved to the dis.4chan.org subdomain.[10] The site has one employee, a programmer whom moot met via on-line Tetris. All other moderators are volunteers.[5]

4chan is one of the Internet's most trafficked imageboards, according to the Los Angeles Times.[11] 4chan's Alexa rank is generally around 1000,[12] though it has been as high as number 56 at times.[13] It is provided to its users free of charge and consumes a large amount of bandwidth; as a result, its financing has often been problematic. Moot acknowledges that donations alone can not keep the site online, so he has turned to advertising to help make ends meet.[14] However, the explicit content hosted on 4chan has deterred businesses who do not want to be associated with the site's content.[8] In January 2009, moot signed a new deal with an advertising company; as of February 2009, he was $20,000 in debt and the site was continuing to lose money.[15]

Unlike most web forums, 4chan does not have a registration system, allowing users to post anonymously.[9][16] Any nickname may be used when posting, even one that has been previously adopted, such as "Anonymous" or "moot".[17] In place of registration, 4chan has provided tripcodes as an optional form of authenticating a poster's identity.[18] As making a post without filling in the "Name" field causes posts to be attributed to "Anonymous", general understanding on 4chan holds that Anonymous is not a single person but a collective (hive) of users. This understanding has led to a running gag referring to Anonymous as some kind of Übermensch.[19] Moderators generally post without a name even when performing sysops actions. A "capcode" may be used to attribute the post to "Anonymous ## Mod", although moderators often post without the capcode.[20] 4chan also has a junior moderation team, called "janitors", who may delete posts or images and suggest that the normal moderation team ban a user, but who can not post with a capcode. Revealing oneself as a janitor is grounds for immediate dismissal.[21]

Links to Anonymous and Project Chanology

See also: Anonymous (group) and Project Chanology

4chan has been labeled as the starting point of the Anonymous meme by The Baltimore City Paper,[13] due to the norm of posts signed with the "Anonymous" moniker. The National Post's David George-Cosh said it has been "widely reported" that Anonymous is associated with 4chan and 711chan, as well as numerous Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels.[22]

Through its association with Anonymous, 4chan has become associated with Project Chanology, a worldwide protest against the Church of Scientology held by members of Anonymous. On January 15, 2008, a 4chan user posted to /b/, suggesting participants "do something big" against the Church of Scientology's website. This message resulted in the Church receiving, by its own reports, more than 6,000 threatening phone calls. It quickly grew into a large real-world protest. Unlike previous Anonymous attacks, this action was characterized by 4chan inside jokes, including rickrolls and Guy Fawkes masks. The raid drew criticism from some 4chan users who felt it would bring the site unnecessary attention.[13]

/b/

The "random" board, /b/, follows the design of Futaba Channel's Nijiura board. It is by far 4chan's most popular board.[23] Gawker.com's Nick Douglas summarizes /b/ as a board where "people try to shock, entertain, and coax free porn from each other".[2] Certain post numbers are sought after with a large amount of posting taking place to "GET" them. A "GET" occurs when a post's number ends in a special number, such as 12345678, 22222222, or every millionth post.[24] A sign of 4chan's scaling, according to moot, was when GETs lost meaning due to the high post rate resulting in a GET occurring every few weeks. Moot estimated /b/'s post rate in July 2008 to be 150–200,000 posts per day.[25]

/b/ has a "no rules" policy, except for bans on certain illegal content, such as child pornography, invasions of other websites, and under-18 viewing, all of which are inherited from site-wide rules. The "no invasions" rule was added in late 2006, after /b/ users spent most of the summer "invading" Habbo Hotel. The "no rules" policy also applies to actions of administrator and moderator, which means that users may be banned at any time, for any reason, including no reason at all.[26] Due partially to its anonymous nature, board moderation is not always successful—indeed, the site's anti-child pornography rule is a subject of jokes on /b/.[13] moot told The New York Times, in a discussion on the moderation of /b/, that "the power lies in the community to dictate its own standards" and that site staff simply provided a framework.[27]

The humor of /b/'s many users, who refer to themselves as "/b/tards",[27][28] is often incomprehensible to newcomers and outsiders, and is characterized by intricate inside jokes and black comedy.[28] Users often refer to each other, and much of the outside world, as "fags".[13] They are often referred to by outsiders as trolls, who regularly act with the intention of accumulating "lulz": a corruption of "LOL" used to denote amusement at another's expense.[27][29] Douglas said of the board, "reading /b/ will melt your brain", and cited Encyclopedia Dramatica's definition of /b/ as "the asshole of the Internet".[2] Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times likened /b/ to a "a high-school bathroom stall, or an obscene telephone party line",[27] while Baltimore City Paper wrote that "in the high school of the internet, /b/ is the kid with a collection of butterfly knives and a locker full of porn."[13] Wired describes /b/ as "notorious".[28]

Memes

Internet memes are catchphrases or images that spread quickly, peer to peer, across the Internet.[30] Many Internet memes have originated on 4chan, usually /b/, as its fast moving, crowd psychology nature enables content to quickly be passed on to large numbers of viewers. The most noteworthy of these memes are lolcats, rickrolling, and "Chocolate Rain". Other memes originating on the site have gained media attention of a lesser degree. These include "So I herd u liek mudkipz" [sic], which involves a phrase based on Pokémon, and which generated numerous YouTube tribute videos.[9] 4chan, and other websites, such as the satirical Encyclopedia Dramatica, have also contributed to the development of significant amounts of leetspeak.[31] In 2005, the lolcat meme began on 4chan as "Caturday". Every Saturday, users posted pictures of cats with image macros relating to that day's theme.[32][33]

Rickrolling

Main article: Rickrolling

In 2005, a meme known as the "duckroll" began, after moot used a word filter to change "egg" to "duck" across 4chan. Thus, words such as "eggroll" were changed to "duckroll". This led to a bait and switch in which external links disguised as relevant to a discussion instead led to a picture of a duck on wheels.[34]

In March 2007, the trailer for the video game Grand Theft Auto IV was released. Its immense popularity caused publisher Rockstar Games' website to crash. An unidentified 4chan user applied the concept of the duckroll to what appeared to be a link to Rockstar Game's site, but changed the end result so that the link wouldn't lead to a duck, but instead a YouTube video for Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". Thus, the "rickroll" was born.[34] In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Astley said he found the meme "bizarre and funny".[4][34][35]

"Chocolate Rain"

Main article: Chocolate Rain

A link to the YouTube video of Tay Zonday's song "Chocolate Rain" was posted on /b/ on July 11, 2007.[36] The Age reported that 4chan posters urged each other to "swarm" the video on YouTube and thus increase its ranking.[37] The video became an immensely popular internet meme, resulting in cover versions by John Mayer and Green Day drummer Tré Cool.[38] The portion of the song in which Zonday turns away from the microphone, with a caption stating "I move away from the mic to breathe in", became an oft-repeated meme on 4chan and inspired remixes.[36][39]

Media attention

Internet attacks

See also: Anonymous (group)#KTTV Fox 11 news report and Sarah Palin email hack

Users of 4chan and other websites "raided" Hal Turner by launching DDoS attacks and prank calling his phone-in radio show during December 2006 and January 2007. The attacks caused Turner's website to go offline. This cost thousands of dollars of bandwidth bills according to Turner. In response, Turner sued 4chan, 7chan, and other websites; however, he lost his plea for an injunction and failed to receive letters from the court.[40]

KTTV Fox 11 aired a report on Anonymous, calling them a group of "hackers on steroids", "domestic terrorists", and collectively an "Internet hate machine" on July 26, 2007.[41] Slashdot founder Rob Malda posted a comment made by another Slashdot user, Miang, stating that the story focused mainly on users of "4chan, 7chan and 420chan". Miang claimed that the report "seems to confuse /b/ raids and motivational poster templates with a genuine threat to the American public", arguing that the "unrelated" footage of a van exploding shown in the report was to "equate anonymous posting with domestic terror".[42]

On July 10, 2008, the swastika symbol (卐) appeared at the top of Google's Hot Trends list—a tally of the most popular search terms in the United States—for several hours. It was later reported that the HTML numeric character reference for the symbol had been posted on /b/, with a request to perform a Google search for the string. A multitude of /b/ visitors followed the order and pushed the symbol to the top of the chart, though Google later removed the result.[11]

Later that year, the private Yahoo! Mail account of Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election, was hacked by a 4chan user. This followed criticism of Palin and other politicians supposedly using private email accounts for governmental work.[43] The hacker posted the account's password on /b/, and screenshots from within the account to Wikileaks.[44] A /b/ user then logged in and changed the password, posting a screenshot of his sending an email to a friend of Palin's informing her of the new password on the /b/ thread. However, he forgot to blank out the password in the screenshot.[45] A multitude of /b/ users attempted to log in with the new password, and the account was automatically locked out by Yahoo!. The incident was criticized by some /b/ users, one of whom complained that "seriously, /b/. We could have changed history and failed, epically."[46] The FBI and Secret Service began investigating the incident shortly after its occurrence. On September 20 it was revealed they were questioning David Kernell, the son of Democratic Tennessee State Representative Mike Kernell.[47]

The stock price of Apple Inc. fell significantly in October 2008 after a hoax story was submitted to CNN's user-generated news site iReport.com claiming that company CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a major heart attack. The source of the story was traced back to 4chan.[48][49]

Threats of violence

See also: Jake Brahm

On October 18, 2006, the Department of Homeland Security warned National Football League officials in Miami, New York City, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland, and Cleveland about a possible threat involving the simultaneous use of dirty bombs at stadiums.[50] The threat claimed that the attack would be carried out on October 22, the final day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.[51] Both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security expressed doubt concerning the credibility of the threats, but warned the relevant organizations as a precaution. The games proceeded as planned but under a higher level of security awareness.[52] The threats came to light in the national media after blogger Jake Brahm admitted to having posted the threats on 4chan and repeating them on other websites approximately 40 times.[51] Brahm did not expect the message to be taken seriously since he "would never take anything posted on 4chan as fact";[53] an FBI official was quoted as saying the "credibility of [the threat] was beyond ridiculous".[13] As a parody of the incident, 4chan temporarily added "Don't mess with football" as an additional rule for /b/.[13]

"Hello, /b/. On September 11, 2007, at 9:11 A.M. Central time, two pipe bombs will be remote-detonated at Pflugerville High School. Promptly after the blast, I, along with two ther Anonymous, will charge the building, armed with a Bushmaster AR-15, IMI Galil AR, a vintage, government-issue M1 .30 Carbine, and a Benelli M4 semi auto shotgun."

—The Pflugerville threat.[54]

On October 20, 2006, Brahm turned himself in to federal authorities, and was charged with fabricating a fake terrorist threat and taken into custody.[55] On February 28, 2008, he pled guilty to the federal charges. On June 5, 2008, he was sentenced to six months in prison, six months' house arrest, and ordered to pay $26,750 in restitution.[56]

Around midnight on September 11, 2007, a student posted photographs of mock pipe bombs and another photograph of him holding them while saying he would blow up his high school—Pflugerville High School in Pflugerville, Texas—at 9:11 a.m. on September 11.[54] Users of 4chan helped to track him down by finding the perpetrator's father's name in the Exif data of a photograph he took, and contacted the police.[57] He was arrested before school began that day.[58][59][60][61]

Jarrad Willis, a 20-year-old from Melbourne, Australia was arrested on December 8, 2007, after apparently posting on 4chan that he was "going to shoot and kill as many people as I can until which time I am incapacitated or killed by the police".[62] The post, accompanied by an image of another man holding a shotgun, threatened a shopping mall near Beverly Hills. The post and image were later deleted from the site.[63] While the investigation was still open, Willis was charged with criminal defamation for a separate incident[64] but died before the case was heard.[65]

On February 4, 2009, a posting on the 4chan /b/[66] said there would be a school shooting at St Eskils Gymnasium in Eskilstuna, Sweden. 1250 students and 50 teachers were evacuated.[67] A 21-year-old man was arrested after 4chan had provided the police with the IP address of the poster. According to the police the suspect said it was a joke and he was released after they found no indication that the threat was serious.[68][69]

Dusty the cat

In mid-February 2009, two videos featuring the physical abuse of a domestic cat named Dusty by a person calling himself "Timmy" were posted on Youtube. The 4chan community, outraged by the abuse, was able to track down the originator of the videos, a fourteen-year-old from Oklahoma, and passed his details to his local police department. As a result of this, a suspect was arrested and the cat was treated by a vet and taken to a safe place. [70][71]

moot's identity

moot at the 2008 ROFLCon

Moot's alleged real-world identity—"Christopher Poole"—was revealed on July 9, 2008, in The Wall Street Journal.[5] That day, Lev Grossman of TIME published an interview describing moot's influence as a non-visible administrator as "one of the most [significant]" on the evolution of content collaboration. Although Grossman's article began with the confession that "I don't even know his real name", he claimed to identify moot as Christopher Poole.[8] Later, on July 10, Grossman admitted that there was an outside chance that Christopher Poole was not moot's real name, but instead an obscure reference to a 4chan inside joke.[25] The Washington Post agreed that "Christopher Poole" could be "all a big hoax, a 'gotcha.' It would be just what you'd expect from the creator of 4chan".[15] In March 2009, TIME further gave note to moot by placing him on the 2009 Time 100 Finalists List.[72]

Prior to the Wall Street Journal and TIME interviews, moot deliberately kept his real identity separate from 4chan. He told Grossman "my personal private life is very separate from my Internet life ... There's a firewall in between."[8] As moot, he has spoken at conferences at Yale University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[8] The Observer describes moot as "the most influential web entrepreneur you've never heard of".[73]

In February 2009 the Washingon Post reported that moot had attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia for a few semesters before dropping out. It reported that moot was living with his mother while looking for a way to make money from owning 4chan.[15]

References

  1. ^ moot (2003-10-01). "Welcome". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/news.php?all#2. Retrieved on 2008-08-02. 
  2. ^ a b c d Nick Douglas (2008-01-18). "What The Hell Are 4chan, ED, Something Awful, And "b"?". Gawker.com. http://gawker.com/346385/what-the-hell-are-4chan-ed-something-awful-and-b?mail2=true. Retrieved on 2008-07-15. 
  3. ^ Anonymous (2008-08-07), "It's all about the money, stupid, not the latest online technology", Marketing Week: 13, ISSN 0141-9285, http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-8246737/It-s-all-about-the.html, retrieved on 2009-02-04 
  4. ^ a b Sean Michaels (2008-03-19). "Taking the Rick". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/mar/19/news. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  5. ^ a b c d Jamin Brophy-Warren (2008-07-09). "Modest Web Site Is Behind a Bevy of Memes". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121564928060441097.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  6. ^ Danny O'Brien (2008-05-02). "Tuning into innovation outside the confines of English-speaking web". Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0502/1209632797289.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-17. 
  7. ^ a b "FAQ – What is 4chan?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#what4chan. Retrieved on 2008-07-15. 
  8. ^ a b c d e Grossman, Lev (2008-07-09), "The Master of Memes", TIME 172 (3): 36, http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1821435,00.html, retrieved on 2008-07-24 
  9. ^ a b c Jerry Langton (2007-09-22). "Funny how `stupid' site is addictive". The Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/living/article/257955. Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  10. ^ "FAQ – What were 4channel and world4ch?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#were. Retrieved on 2008-07-15. 
  11. ^ a b David Sarno (2008-07-12). "Rise and fall of the Googled swastika". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-swastika12-2008jul12,0,7460743.story. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  12. ^ "4chan.org — Site Information". Alexa. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main/4chan.org. Retrieved on 2008-09-13. 
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Chris Landers (2008-03-02). "Serious Business". Baltimore City Paper. http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=15543. Retrieved on 2008-07-13. 
  14. ^ moot (2008-02-12). "The long and short of it". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/news.php?all#95. Retrieved on 2008-08-02. 
  15. ^ a b c Monica Hesse (February 17, 2009). "A Virtual Unknown; Meet 'Moot,' the Secretive Internet Celeb Who Still Lives With Mom". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021601565.html?hpid=sec-tech. 
  16. ^ "FAQ – How do I post anonymously?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#postanon. Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  17. ^ "FAQ – Can I register a username?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#register. Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  18. ^ "FAQ – How do I use a "tripcode"?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#trip. Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  19. ^ "FAQ – Who is "Anonymous"?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#anonymous. Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  20. ^ "FAQ – What is a capcode?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#capcode. Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  21. ^ "FAQ – What are "janitors"?". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq#whojan. Retrieved on 2009-01-12. 
  22. ^ David George-Cosh (2008-01-25). "Online group declares war on Scientology". National Post. http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=db57d8d2-ca06-4fe0-8a8b-4975100f7231. Retrieved on 2008-07-13. 
  23. ^ moot (2008-07-11). "/b/". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/news.php?all#101. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  24. ^ "FAQ on GETs". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#get. Retrieved on 2007-03-14. 
  25. ^ a b Lev Grossman (2008-07-10). "Now in Paper-Vision: The 4chan Guy". TIME. http://time-blog.com/nerd_world/2008/07/now_in_papervision_the_4chan_g.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  26. ^ "4chan — Rules – /b/ - Random". 4chan. http://www.4chan.org/rules.php#b. Retrieved on 2006-08-18. 
  27. ^ a b c d Schwartz, Mattathias (August 3, 2008). "The Trolls Among Us". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?ex=1375329600&en=b5085d50ee5c65e5&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink. Retrieved on 2009-01-11. 
  28. ^ a b c Julian Dibbell (2008-01-18). "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers". Wired. http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-02/mf_goons?currentPage=all. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  29. ^ Jonathan Kay (2008-08-06). "You'll miss us when we're gone". The National Post. http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=94f40e62-2db2-4917-8e21-e17b9a25b2db&p=1. Retrieved on 2008-08-06. 
  30. ^ Karl Hodge (2000-08-10). "It's all in the memes". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2000/aug/10/technology. Retrieved on 2008-09-13. 
  31. ^ Caitlin Moran (2008-06-20). "Scientology: the Anonymous protestors". The Times. http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article4173635.ece. Retrieved on 2008-08-25. 
  32. ^ Paul Richards (2007-11-14). "Iz not cats everywhere? Online trend spreads across campus". The Daily Pennsylvanian. http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2007/11/14/News/Iz.Not.Cats.Everywhere.Online.Trend.Spreads.Across.Campus-3099929.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  33. ^ Sharon Steel (2008-02-01). "The cuteness surge". The Phoenix. http://thephoenix.com/Article.aspx?id=55486. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  34. ^ a b c "The Biggest Little Internet Hoax on Wheels Hits Mainstream". FOX News. 2008-04-22. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352010,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  35. ^ David Sarno (2008-05-25). "Web Scout exclusive! Rick Astley, king of the 'Rickroll,' talks about his song's second coming". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/03/rick-astley-kin.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  36. ^ a b "Thread 32640395". 4chanarchive.org. http://4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=32640395. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  37. ^ Matthew Ricketson (2008-07-16). "YouTube research shows picture is changing rapidly". The Age. http://business.theage.com.au/business/youtube-research-shows-picture-is-changing-rapidly-20080716-3fn1.html?page=2. Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  38. ^ Mathew Ingram (2007-08-15). "Who is Tay Zonday?". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070815.WBmingram20070815141502/WBStory/WBmingram/. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  39. ^ Garth Montgomery (2007-08-01). "Chocolate Rain goes huge". The Daily Telegraph. news.com.au. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22170787-5012327,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  40. ^ "Harold C. "Hal" Turner v. 4chan.org". Justia Federal District Court Filings. 2007-01-19. http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-njdce/case_no-2:2007cv00306/case_id-198438/. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  41. ^ "FOX 11 Investigates: 'Anonymous'". MyFOX Los Angeles. KTTV (FOX). 2007-07-26. http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=3894628. Retrieved on 2007-08-11. 
  42. ^ "Miang", CmdrTaco (ed.) (2007-07-28). "AC = Domestic Terrorists?". Slashdot. http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/28/1145204.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  43. ^ Ted Bridis (2008-09-17). "Hackers claim break-in to Palin's e-mail account". Associated Press. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iem-vu_mlRjRYfqkscEkw2ciRm7wD938N1JO0. Retrieved on 2008-09-17. 
  44. ^ Tom Phillips (2008-09-17). "Sarah Palin's email gets hacked". Metro. http://theridiculant.metro.co.uk/2008/09/sarah-palins-em.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-17. 
  45. ^ M. J. Stephey (2008-09-17). "Sarah Palin's E-mail Hacked". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842097,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-17. 
  46. ^ David Sarno (2008-09-17). "4Chan's half-hack of Palin's email goes awry". The Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/09/4chans-half-hac.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-17. 
  47. ^ Steve Bosak (2008-09-20). "Suspect Nabbed in Palin E-mail Hack". NewsFactor. http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Suspect-Nabbed-in-Palin-E-mail-Hack/story.xhtml?story_id=110003SJWA8K. Retrieved on 2008-09-21. 
  48. ^ Sandoval, Greg (October 4, 2008). "Who's to blame for spreading phony Jobs story?". CNet News. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10058410-93.html. Retrieved on January 11, 2009. 
  49. ^ Cheng, Jacqui (October 3, 2008). "Friday Apple links: Steve Jobs still not dead edition". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/10/03/friday-apple-links-steve-jobs-still-not-dead. Retrieved on January 11, 2009. 
  50. ^ Chris Dolmetsch, David Voreacos (2006-10-20). "Wisconsin Man Is Charged in Fake NFL Stadium Threats". Bloomberg.com. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aVpJWbr6YesA&refer=home. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. 
  51. ^ a b Roy Mark (2006-10-20). "Man Charged in Internet Bomb Threats". InternetNews.com. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3639301. Retrieved on 2008-07-24. 
  52. ^ Pierre Thomas (2006-10-16). "NFL Stadium Threat: Officials Skeptical But Issue Warning". ABC News. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/10/nfl_stadium_thr.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-21. 
  53. ^ Associated Press (2008-06-05). "Ex-Grocery Clerk Gets 6 Months for NFL Stadium Attack Hoax". FOX News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,363525,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-21. 
  54. ^ a b "4chanarchive — Thread 39101047". 4chanarchive.com. 2007-09-11. http://4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=39101047. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  55. ^ Ronald Smothers (2006-10-20). "Man, 20, Arrested in Stadium Threat Hoax". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/us/21stadium.html?ex=1185681600&en=6f5000744e8dd0aa&ei=5070. Retrieved on 2007-07-27. 
  56. ^ Sharon Gaudin (2008-06-16). "Man gets six months for posting terror threat online". PC World. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1900356524;fp;2;fpid;1. Retrieved on 2008-07-21. 
  57. ^ "4chanarchive — Thread 39168208". 4chanarchive.com. 2007-09-11. http://4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=39168208. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  58. ^ "Pflugerville Student Arrested After Posting Bomb Threats". KXAN. 2007-09-12. http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=7058267. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  59. ^ "Police Investigate Bomb Threat at Pflugerville High School". Fox Television Stations, Inc. 2007-09-11. http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4324560&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  60. ^ "Teen arrested for threatening to blow up school". Twean News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin. 2007-09-11. http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=191790. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  61. ^ "Juvenile arrested in Pflugerville H.S. bomb threat". KVUE. 2007-09-11. http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/091107kvueschoolthreat-cb.c37a07dc.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  62. ^ Hudson, Fiona; Houlihan, Liam (2007-12-09). "Student faces jail over online joke". Herald Sun. news.com.au. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22892993-661,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  63. ^ Associated Press (2007-12-08). "Australian Police Arrest Man Who Threatened to Attack Los Angeles Mall". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316103,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-14. 
  64. ^ Edwards, Geoff (2008-06-30). "Hoax student charges". Frankston Standard Leader (Leader Community Newspapers): p. 1. http://frankston-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/frankston-south-student-faces-court-over-email/. Retrieved on 2009-02-06. 
  65. ^ Shaun Davies (2008-07-31). "Mall massacre hoax accused dies". ninemsn. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=606851. Retrieved on 2008-07-31. 
  66. ^ Sivesson, Sara (2009-02-04). "Hemsidan som chockar ”vuxen-Sverige”" (in Swedish). realtid.se (Alternativ Media Stockholm AB). Archived from the original on 2009-02-06. http://www.webcitation.org/5eOWnUExp. Retrieved on 2009-02-04. 
  67. ^ Sæby, Inger-Marit (2009-02-04). "Svensk skole evakueres etter trusler" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=557871. Retrieved on 2009-02-04. 
  68. ^ "Young man arrested over school threat". The Local / TT. 2009-02-04. http://www.thelocal.se/17354/20090204/. Retrieved on 2009-02-04. 
  69. ^ "21-åringen släpptes efter förhör" (in Swedish). Eskilstuna-Kuriren. 2009-02-04. http://www.ekuriren.se/ekuriren/senaste_nytt.php?id=798861&avdelning_1=102&avdelning_2=369&t=1525145308. Retrieved on 2009-02-04. 
  70. ^ Danny O'Brien, "Online users stick claws into torturer", Irish Times, 20 February 2009. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0220/1224241467858.html
  71. ^ http://www.inquisitr.com/18170/4chan-b-goes-after-cat-abusers-wins/
  72. ^ http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1883644_1883653_1885481,00.html
  73. ^ David Smith (2008-07-20). "The 20-year-old at heart of web's most anarchic and influential site". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/20/internet.google. Retrieved on 2008-07-20. 

External links

Wikinews
Wikinews has related news:
v • d • e
Anonymous and the Internet
Related websites
Topics
Terms
Internet portal
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4chan"
Personal tools