moot Called to Testify in Sarah Palin E-Mail Hacking Case; Forced to Define “Trolling,” “/b/tard,” “Rickroll”

Earlier this year, 4chan founder Christopher Poole, a.k.a. moot, was called to testify in the trial of David Kernell, a 4chan user who was ultimately convicted of computer fraud and obstruction of justice for his role in “hacking” into Sarah Palin’s email account and leaking screenshots during the 2008 election. Note that this “hack” consisted of “reset[ting] Palin’s password using her birthdate, ZIP code and information about where she met her spouse — the security question on her Yahoo account, which was answered (Wasilla High) by a simple Google search”; not exactly the height of state security.

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Anyway: During the trial, moot was asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krotoski to define some common online and 4chan lingo, including “troll,” “Rickroll,” “404,” “.jpg,” and even “/b/tard.” (Yes, this is a violation of rules 1 and 2, but hey, he was under oath.)

Some choice excerpts below:

Full PDF available here.

(Smoking Gun via BuzzFeed; h/t Business Insider)


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