Turns Out 4chan Boards Not As Lawless As They Seem

Nearly overlooked during the recent criminal trial of the Tennessee man who hacked Sarah Palin’s e-mail account was the testimony--as a government witness--of the founder of 4chan.org, the anarchic message board.

Federal prosecutors put Christopher “Moot” Poole on the stand to identify 4chan records that linked David Kernell to the Palin hack. Poole, 22, had previously turned over to the FBI server logs and other records after being served with a search warrant.

Kernell, 22, initially uploaded images from Palin’s Yahoo account to 4chan’s notorious “/b/” board, and later posted there a step-by-step description of the September 2008 e-mail incursion. The 4chan records (and other electronic fingerprints) clearly linked the Palin hack to Kernell, who was convicted of two felony counts.

Poole’s testimony--which included quaint prosecution queries about b/tards, new fags, trolls, and getting Rickrolled--can be downloaded here (PDF). Denizens of /b/--where memes are born, cyberbullying campaigns are hatched, and child porn can sometimes be found--might be surprised to discover that 4chan isn’t as lawless as it seems.