Social Networking: Fighting to Remain Anonymous

In 2008, then-23-year-old Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at South by Southwest Interactive, the annual Austin (Tex.) festival of geekery. The Facebook founder used his keynote interview to articulate his vision for the transformative power of social networking. By tying online identities to real-life ones, he suggested, Facebook would help create a safer, friendlier Internet.

At this year's festival, 22-year-old Christopher Poole took the stage as the keynote speaker on Sun., Mar. 13. Poole was there in part to promote his Web startup Canvas. But he's best known as the creator of the anti-Facebook: the message forum 4chan.org, where almost every user posts under the name "anonymous." In his address, Poole extolled namelessness. Zuckerberg is "totally wrong" about using real names on the Web, he told the audience: "Anonymity is authenticity."