科技英语新闻:4chan founder: Mark Zuckerberg is “totally wrong” about online identity

BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Chris Poole, the 22-year-old founder of 4Chan.org, criticized Facebook's approach and spoke up for online anonymity at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas, according to media reports Tuesday.

Poole called out early in his keynote speech at the huge Austin tech event, referencing this Zuckerberg quote from David Kirkpatrick’s book "The Facebook Effect": "Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity."

"Anonymity is authenticity; it allows you to share in a completely unfiltered way," Poole countered. "It allows you to play in ways, you might not if people knew who you are.”

Losing the ability to be anonymous on the Internet is, "a kind of loss of the innocence of youth," Poole said, crediting 4chan’s culture-infiltrating creativity to anonymity. "You can’t make mistakes,“ and then leave them behind, like the olds did pre-Facebook. If your mistakes ever made it to the Internet, they’re with you wherever you go.

Poole — known by the 4chan handle "moot" — was to promote his new meme-generating venture, Canvas, still in beta testing.

Launched for anime enthusiasts in 2003, 4chan is one of the most popular image-sharing bulletin boards on the Internet, with most of that traffic hitting 4chan’s notorious "random" image board, the /b/ board.