Internet Forums and Self-Incrimination

Nowadays there are forums and other expressive outlets everywhere on the internet catering to nearly every interest. However, the internet is not as safe a place as it once was in terms of expression. With the erosion of civil liberties occurring piece-by-piece via our government, it is important to be careful about what you publish in public internet forums. When I'm talking about forums, I'm generally talking about ones dealing with currently illegal acts such as using controlled substances or performing acts like music or video piracy. I'm not writing this article to blow a whistle on self-expression. I rather want to take this opportunity to educate those who use internet forums about the dangers of self-incrimination.

Self-incrimination is an act in which a person says, writes, or performs some action that could possibly be used as evidence against them in a criminal charge. For example, if you are on a forum devoted to marijuana and post pictures of you taking a bong rip at home, you're in danger of self-incrimination. Although you are free to express yourself online in whatever way you see fit, it does not mean that certain actions can't come back to bite you in the ass. I don't work for the Drug Enforcement Agency, so I don't know how much they actually monitor on forum sites like this. But it certainly doesn't hurt to be careful in order to avoid self-incrimination or a possible criminal charge against you. Here are a few guidelines to follow.