use caution

To everyone who is posting bulletins about graffiti artists being busted,
rainforest petitions, photos of themselves in context with reference to anything
illegal at all....

I have posted on this topic several times now, and I will keep saying it until I
am blue in the face.

Do NOT post anything that you wouldn't say to a stranger. Do NOT post
anything that lets people connect your real official name to your email
address. Do NOT help these pig-fuckers make the connection between
your online activities and your physical self. Make the bastards WORK for it.

Don't post your full name anywhere on the internet. Most virtual spaces
truly are PUBLIC in the most general sense-anyone on earth can log on,
anonymously, from a computer at kinko's or the library, look at anything you have
posted, sign up for myspace, friendster, bme, any page that you have signed up for.
Freedom on the web translates to a greater danger of eavesdropping. I am not willing
to give up the freedom to be active in ways that might be illicit without making the
connection back to myself. therefore whenever I am "visible", like I am on myspace
as anji, I am careful to avoid reference to any illegal activities, any political action
I want to undertake, and any and all criminal activities/paintings.

I talk a lot about my beliefs and I do not water that down. there is nothing illegal
(yet) about being an anarchist or appreciating graffiti or disliking the election results.
My beliefs are not evidence. My actions, and specific information about them, might be.
Separation is key, caution is key. I promote my artwork on the internet in a hundred
places. I have had an online gallery running nearly continuosly for six years.
I use my real name on my "safe" work, and keep it apart from my more controversial
stuff. Safety.

If you are not treating this like a public forum yet, take this as a very real warning.
The government, the police, the powers that be in general, are very aware that many
people who are using the internet are involved in some unsavory things. And I
don't mean porn, I don't mean drugs. Anything that you talk about on here that
is illegal or on the edge can be read by these fat pig-fuckers and can be used as
leads into an investigation of your activities.

When I first started using the internet (I won't say when, since it makes me feel old)
I was not so careful about broadcasting my identity. This was before every jackass
in the world could sign up in AOL and stare at me like a freakshow. Now, gramma in
boise is sitting at home right now horrified and astounded at some of the things I
have put online in the years since. Fuck her. Fuck her cop nephew. Anything that could
place me in any questionable light has no connection to my real identity. I am safe from
online investigations. I have learned the hard way to be careful.

It was safer back in the day to have a "real" or traceable virtual presence. Everyone
knew that cops couldn't use computers. Everyone was right until a few years ago,
maybe three or so, when the cops started using the internet to gather evidence for
crimes other than hacking-when they realized we were using this as a way to make
plans and communicate, they perked up their piggy little ears and started listening.
Beware. They are as educated as us in how to use the internet and their resources are
greater. After all, WE'RE paying for their operating systems.

Use the internet, use myspace, to make connections to like-minded fools. Use it to
talk. Use it to find out things. Use it to promote your band, talk to a hot chick or fella,
promote your (legally produced art), to anonymously showcase your (illegal) works,
use it to write your mom a note. Use it for all it's worth. use it to revolt if you can figure
out a way. But don't do it without your superman suit on, people. They're watching us.

Don't tell anyone that knows your fake self about your real self. Avoid references to
locations more specific than a state name. Don't even tell anyone that you are
anonymous with your age or sex or race or anything that is traceable to you,
because unless you know that person in "real" life, YOU DON'T KNOW THEM.
Sign up for an invented and completely false yahoo or hotmail email. use a library
computer. Then don't log into it from home or work. Use that email to set up your
new gallery, myspace, etc. Don't refer to people you know in connection to it. Also
don't tell people who know YOU on-line about your FAKE ID.

YOU DON'T KNOW SOMEONE ON-LINE. It is very easy (and notoriously funny)
when on-line romantics meet the first time in person. Unless you have spoken to,
and know, someone in the flesh, don't give them any details about yourself.
The next boyfriend or girlfriend you make on the other side of the country
could actually be a cop in your town. Be careful meeting people you've met online.
Don't be naive. Leave that stupidity to the red states-let them get scammed by
nigerians. The fuckers. They deserve it. But not us.

Be careful out there. The bastards are red and they're multiplying. We're in for a very
nasty fight, a very long and horrific battle against the forces of darkness and unreason,
and if you think you're safe, you're crazy. The internet is open to the pigs and they are
clogging it.

LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS