(Photo: Eye on Star Wars)

Remember that petition urging the White House to facilitate job creation by building a gigantic Death Star a la Star Wars? With a little help from 4chan, the petition reached the 25,000 signature threshold it needed to elicit a response from the White House.

Now, the administration has responded to the petition in a note called "This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For," and it's kind of awesome?

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.

• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.

• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

All very sensible, we have to admit.

You can read the full response here.

(Screencap: YouTube)

Local NYC band Anamanaguchi has released a new single, called "Meow," off of their upcoming album Endless Fantasy. The video is replete with anime, a Japanese crawl and some technicolor laser tag, but at the end Betabeat spotted a familiar face.

Around the 4:16 mark, 4chan founder Moot (a.k.a. Chris Poole) makes a cameo, dressed in a pink furry cat suit. He removes the head of the cat suit to reveal his face, into which he then appears to stuff a chip. Art!

One of the Internet's most prolific Kim Jong-un memes. (Photo: 1mut)

A few weeks ago we reported that 4chan, the Internet's favorite underbelly, was galvanizing to vote North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the top of Time’s person of the year reader poll. It seems it has been successful in its pursuit, as Time just announced that Kim Jong-un won the spot. This, of course, doesn't mean that he will certainly be the Time editors' person of the year pick, but it demonstrates the immense online voting power of 4chan.

Kim Jong-un garned 5.6 million votes, putting him just ahead of Jon Stewart. Time was gracious enough to acknowledge 4chan's influence:

However, some of the highest vote tallies got a boost from members of Internet forums like 4Chan who launched a campaign to manipulate the results pushing North Korea’s supreme leader to the top of the list.

A few days ago, 4chan also spelled out "KJU Gas Chambers" with the first letters of each nominee's name, because it's 4chan, guys.

A 4chan member posted a script for automated voting.

That didn't take long: A week after Time opened an annual online poll allowing readers to vote their choice for the magazine's Person of the Year, 4chan has succeeded in pushing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the top of the list. By a long shot.

After a 4chan user posted a script to automate the voting process, according to the Daily Dot, Mr. Kim surged to 2.99 million votes, far outpacing Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who's in second place with more than 389,000 votes.

While the magazine's editors reserve the right to name the magazine's Person of the Year themselves, virtually guaranteeing that the North Korean dictator won't grace the newsweekly's POY cover, Time lets internet voters anoint the year's "Most Influential Person"—an honor that 4chan voters brought home for co-founder Chris Poole in 2009.

Given the current standings, Mr. Kim looks like a lock to follow in Mr. Poole's footsteps when polling closes on December 12.

(Photo: Imgur)

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is having the best week ever. After being nominated by The Onion as 2012's sexiest man alive--and having the announcement subsequently spread across papers in China as if The Onion is a legitimate news source--the meme-friendly leader now has 4chan gunning for him. Like it did for the site's founder Moot back in 2009, The Daily Dot reports that 4chan's /b/ board is assembling to affect the outcome of Time's Person of the Year award.

Though Time editors technically choose the winner, the magazine also runs a poll on its website for the Internet to decide who is the world's "Most Influential Person." Dubbed "Operation: Kim Jung Un for Time's Person of the Year," 4chan is already off to a good start: Kim Jong Un is currently ranked number two in the poll, trailing Egyptian president Mohamed Morsy.

Back in 2009, 4chan galvanized to successfully vote its cofounder, the litigious Chris Poole, as the World's Most Influential Person, beating Bernie Madoff, Oprah Winfrey and our very own POTUS. Back then, Time said its technical team detected several efforts to "hack the vote," so we suspect the devs at Time to be on high alert until voting closes December 12th.

Mr. Poole (Photo: Wikipedia)

4Chan founder Chris Poole, who has gone by the username Moot since 2003, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Oregon-based startup Moot.It, a yet-to-launch company that promises to reimagine forums and commenting. We initially suspected the letter might be a prank from /b/, but confirmed with Mr. Poole's lawyer, Martin Schwimmer, that it is indeed real.

Mr. Schwimmer, a partner at White Plains law firm Leason Ellis, writes that because Mr. Poole is so closely aligned with the username Moot, any attempt by Moot.It to use the name could result in confusion from users who may wrongfully believe Mr. Poole is associated with the company.

Courtney Couch, founder of Moot.It, says that the company refuses to change the name. Moot.It is much like Disqus, a service that gives third-party websites a customizable commenting space, and Mr. Couch feels the name fits the company’s mission well. They did not get the name from Moot the person, instead using it based on its definition of "open to discuss or debate."

“We decided on ‘Moot’ because we felt it was descriptive of the ultimate goals of the company, namely, to foster meaningful and substantive dialogue," Mr. Couch told Betabeat.

“When I saw the letter, I did a double take,” Mr. Couch said. “Without being an expert on the law, it didn’t seem right that an individual could try to strong arm me out of using a name that bears only a tangential relationship to his product and online persona.  Although I wouldn’t necessarily call 4chan a “Goliath” of the internet, Poole has certainly taken the Goliath position on this.”

In an email to Betabeat, Mr. Schwimmer insisted that the letter is not necessarily a C&D, as ”there is no ‘demand’ in the letter and there is nothing to ‘cease’ as apparently the company is not in business as of yet.” Rather the letter, excerpted below, "respectfully suggest[s]" that Moot.It find a new name:

As such, the pseudonym MOOT has become part of Mr. Poole’s protectable right of publicity under New York State law (and other state laws) and the term MOOT functions as a famous trademark utilized by 4chan....

In view of the strong association in the minds of a substantial part of the Internet community between MOOT and commenting and discussion, it is unavoidable that your continued use of MOOT as a trademark would lead to confusion....

We note that your site refers to an upcoming launch and doesn’t appear to yet offer goods or services. Given that you have not begun use of the trademark, we respectfully suggest that you begin an orderly transition to a name that doesn’t cause confusion with the rights of our client. Were you to begin use of MOOT.IT as a trademark, my client would have to investigate all options available to it.

In the letter, Mr. Schwimmer argues that because 4chan is known for its forums, Moot.It's focus on forums and commenting could lead to further confusion amongst users. The letter also includes a handful of amusing details, such as the use of an Urban Dictionary entry to support Mr. Poole's claim to "moot" and a Hacker News comment to illustrate the fact that people may confuse Moot and Moot.It.

Mr. Couch's lawyer, Jana Moser of Gerard Fox, has responded to Mr. Poole's letter, saying that they refuse to relinquish the right to use the name Moot.It. The letter sent to Mr. Schwimmer and Mr. Poole by Mr. Couch's lawyer further states that because this is a "frivolous" lawsuit, should Mr. Poole make any further demands, "you will both be met with a lawsuit for malicious prosecution."

"We wrote the letter to bring Moot.It’s attention to information relating to its choice of name (including the fact that a user on YCombinator asked ‘Is this related to the Moot?’)," Mr. Schwimmer told Betabeat. "We did so in the hopes of achieving a constructive resolution of the situation, and still believe that to be the best outcome for all concerned."

Below are both letters.

(Screencap: Patriot Voices)

It's not often that we feel the desire to head over to Patriot Voices, the website of former Presidential candidate and uber-conservative Rick Santorum that serves up partisan vitriol with every click. But a post on Reddit about Mr. Santorum caught our eye and the claim checks out.

When you navigate to Patriot Voices, a pop up box appears with a bunch of different people’s faces alongside Mr. Santorum’s, ostensibly representing patriots, which by his definition likely refers to fellow sweater vest wearers. One of those pictures, sandwiched in between two photos of Mr. Santorum, is the visage of Chris Poole–a.k.a. Moot, the founder of notorious message board 4chan. The photo is the same one used on Mr. Poole's Wikipedia page.

Prominently featuring a photo of “the 20-year-old at the heart of the web’s most anarchic and influential site” on a Santorum site has to be the most inspired web design trolling (or fuck up!) we've seen in awhile. But how did it happen?

Patriot Voices used the startup Nation Builder, a web tool kit for community organizers, as a platform for the site. A representative for Nation Builder told Betabeat that the site was designed by an outside designer at the Pittsburgh-based political consulting and advertising firm Brabender Cox.

Like, what? (Screencap: Patriot Voices)

Dubbed "the premier Republican spin doctors," Brabender Cox has a longstanding history of working to promote Republican candidates. In addition to doing work for Mr. Santorum, they've also created viral videos and advertising content for politicians like Republican Senator Tom Coburn and Republican Mayor of Indianapolis Greg Ballard.

It's hard to believe that anyone working at such a well-established Republican media arm would be outwardly anti-Santorum (unless they contracted out the job to a secret Dem). We've reached out to the designer to clarify. We've also reached out to Moot to ask for his reaction.

It's still unclear whether the designers, say, mistook Moot for your average wholesome looking white guy. What is clear, however, is that it is fucking hilarious.

Update:

Adrian Chen reports that Moot told him: "...somebody knows how to use Wikipedia, I guess. I assumed someone created a profile on the site and used my photo as their profile pic. Or maybe it was a staffer/designer for the site. Who knows."

Mr. Gallagher (Photo: IMDB)

Michael Gallagher just wanted to tap into the zeitgeist.

The 23-year-old filmmaker--known for his popular YouTube series, Totally Sketch--is about to release his first full-length feature film, a low budge horror flick called Smiley. But what should amount to buzzy excitement leading up to the film's launch has been eclipsed by personal attacks on Mr. Gallagher made by notorious message board 4chan and hacktivist collective Anonymous.

The reason? Mr. Gallagher painted both 4chan and Anonymous as the villains of Smiley. Obviously, this didn't sit well with either group.

Going off the IMDB description, the film's plot sounds like something you and your friends jokingly thought up while stoned and surfing 4chan:

After discovering an urban legend on 4chan's /b/ board of a demented serial killer that has nothing but a carved 'smilely' on his face, Ashley, a mentally fragile teen, must decide whether she is going insane, or the next victim.

Variety elaborates, saying that the film follows a college freshman as she meets members of 4chan and "a series of grisly murders committed by Smiley, an urban-legend Internet ghoul from the imagination of Gallagher and Phillips, is linked to the shadowy real-life groups."

Shockingly, 4chan and Anonymous did not take kindly to the notion that their groups are fertile breeding grounds for serial killers. /b/ may be well known as a place for the detritus of the Internet to flourish and be celebrated, but likening it to a launching pad for vicious murderers is just a little bit disingenuous.

Of course, 4chan and Anonymous rebelled in typical fashion: by doxing and threatening Mr. Gallagher.

According to Variety:

Gallagher has endured a torrent of voicemails, emails, texts, message-board posts and comments laced with death threats, insults and admonitions to spam and harass the filmmaker, his colleagues, his girlfriend and his family. Now the FBI is considering whether to investigate the bizarre, life-imitates-art situation.

Mr. Gallagher, who as a semi-famous YouTuber is no stranger to Internet negativity, said he expected some backlash, but nothing to this extent. We have a feeling the poor guy probably hangs out on Reddit much more than he does on 4chan.

Tip o' the hat to ya, Reddit. (Photo: CMT)

Shimmery fairydust composite Taylor Swift, who floats instead of walks and subsists entirely on a nutritional diet of rainbows, has decided not to let the trolls ruin a good contest.

Back in August, Reddit and 4chan galvanized for the all-important cause of gaming a VH1 competition that would send Ms. Swift to perform at a school that received the highest amount of votes. Soon, a hoard of trolls began liking Ms. Swift on Facebook and voting to send her to the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston.

(Get it? Sending a musician to a school for kids who can't hear music? "Lulz.")

Though Horace Mann garnered enough votes to situate it comfortably as a finalist, Ms. Swift and co. decided to axe it from the running due to the mean-spirited reason behind its vote gathering. Instead, they teamed up with the contest's sponsors and VH1 to send a monetary gift of $50,000. All Horace Mann students will also get a ticket to the next Boston-area Taylor Swift show.

Jeremiah Ford, Horace Mann's principal, was delighted with the outcome. "Are we the winner? Absolutely," he told Boston.com

In the case of the flaxen-haired unicorn whisperer vs. the trolls, it appears nobility has triumphed. Besides, Internet, why you gotta be so mean?

(Photo: Know Your Meme)

You may remember Jessi Slaughter, the outgoing Florida teenager whose attention-seeking YouTube videos earned her the scorn and mass rage of the 4chan army. An intense online battle ensued between Ms. Slaughter and 4chan; her family famously got involved, with that now-notorious video of her father shouting "Ya dun goof'd," which became a meme in itself. Now, it looks like 4chan is going after another woman who has dared to challenge them. Her name is Lacey Vicich.

"Two years ago there was a girl names Jessi Slaughter," reads an anonymous email sent by "The Cyber Police" that landed in Betabeat's inbox today. "People brought that girl to tears but we intend to bring Lacey Vicich to her knees."

A few weeks ago, a small, lithe brunette named Lacey posted a photo of herself to 4chan's /b/ board, saying that if a poster turned up "69" as the last two numbers of their poster ID, she'd show a NSFW part of her body. When a poster with 69 in his ID did turn up, the girl posted another photo of herself, this time holding up a note that said she wouldn't follow through and instead had trolled everyone on /b/. "Maybe next time you fags should show a woman respect," read the note she was holding, posed next to a picture of her giving the finger to the camera. The sign also linked to her page on My Girl Fund, a password-protected porn site that has since been taken down.

The 4chan army was not amused. Amid further photo taunts from Ms. Vicich and her fiance, 4chan decided to dox her. A day after her post, "Operation: Lacey Vicich is a Whore" was posted to YouTube. According to the email from The Cyber Police, they downloaded the porn videos she'd recorded with her boyfriend and hosted them for free elsewhere. They sent her nude photos to her college classmates, and when they realized she'd transferred schools, they sent photos to those students, too.

In a cached thread on chanarchive, users revealed personal information for Ms. Vicich, including the name and address of her family, her student enrollment information at Florida Gulf Coast University, even her car insurance information--a screenshot of which The Cyber Police provided Betabeat. The Cyber Police also claim both Ms. Vicich and her father's email addresses had been hacked, providing Betabeat with a screenshot that allegedly shows the inbox of her father's account.

4chan users also found out the restaurant where she worked, inundating it with a flurry of harassing phone calls that allegedly led to Ms. Vicich being fired. When it was revealed that her brother had passed away, users attempted to find out where he'd been buried. "My bro and I live in north port, fl and we are going to try to go to her dead brothers gravestone and fuck shit up," wrote one anonymous user on the chan archive thread.

Despite all this, The Cyber Police claims they're nowhere near done with Ms. Vicich. "We have no plans to stop," read the email. "Lacey has yet to feel the true consequences of what we have in store. She may be afraid now, but truly, she doesn't know fear. This is just the beginning."

It's hard to say why Ms. Vicich taunted /b/ in the first place. She claimed to be an old school user of /b/, so she must have known what was in store for her once she began mocking them and telling them they could never properly dox her. Maybe she just wanted a few new viewers for her porn channel, or didn't realize how angry her comments would make /b/. And perhaps /b/ is growing a little sensitive about its place on the Internet; just a few months ago Gawker declared that 4chan's moment in the sun was finally over. But once activated, the wrath of 4chan follows a predictable course, and they seem intent to make Ms. Vicich the new Jessi Slaughter.

The Cyber Police claims that the last call made to Ms. Vicich before she changed her number "revealed that this was beginning to take it's [sic] toll on her."

"She said 'Just stop it,' and started to sniffle," read the email.