Response to Artifact 6

The one thing that I learned early in life is that there is always somebody watching. Whether it be at work , at school, or in the home rarely can someone's actions go unnoticed. The thought that a person can go about life in America with complete anonymity, is thrown out the door the day their born; given a name and assigned a social security number. From the time we are children, identity markers are attached to literally every aspect of our lives. We have student ids, employee numbers, license plate numbers, phone numbers , home addresses, and of course email addresses that allow people to identify us. Trying to achieve anonymity in the 21st century is almost beyond the bounds of possibility. I admire the creator of 4chan, Chris Poole for trying to do the impossible but I wonder just how anonymous the users of his sight really are.
It seems from the video, that the site is growing in popularity. It is empowering people to speak freely and  encouraging people to protest against various institutions of our society.  The empowerment this site has given it users could ultimately lead  to its downfall. From watching the video I felt like users of this site tend to challenge the the status-quo.By doing so they are going to step on a lot of toes and piss off a lot off people. It seems like in life when you began to ask too many questions or decide to "shine light" into dark places you get the attention of those in high places. I feel this site may come under the same fire that wiki leaks faced because of information streaming from anonymous sources. The site has already struggled to gain  corporate or commercial advertising dollars and  the site has been criticized for allowing child pornography to be viewed. Chris did acknowledge that he has opened up a Pandora's box he confesses that he does have some skepticism about what direction the sight is headed in.
Overall the video was interesting. The founder of 4 chan was well spoken and seemed to have the audiences attention throughout. The most intriguing  part of the speech is when Chris Poole mentioned that he created a list of rules to be followed by all. When I went online to investigate what they were I was shocked to find that a person can be banished from the sight for complaining about 4chan (its policies, moderation, etc.). In the video, Poole claimed that the sight had no barriers and it fostered discussion that was completely raw and unfiltered. That claim was not entirely accurate,  you can sound off about anything on 4chan except 4chan. If that is not a clear cut case of  hypocrisy, then I don't know what is.