What follows is an editorial statement endorsed by at least one of the people helping facilitate Synchronized Chaos, as a private citizen without intending to speak for everyone or set policy or a precedent for the magazine. We welcome and publish all comers and all views and hope to encourage intelligent and informed dialogue on issues affecting our world.

I, Cristina Deptula, editorialize as a citizen to support the Author’s Guild amicus friend of the court brief in the Antidote Int’l film company versus Underdogs Inc/Laura Albert case opposing the use of breach of contract claims against authors who choose to disguise their identities for any reason. A number of the Synchronized Chaos staff agree (as private citizens editorializing, as said above the magazine takes no official position and simply serves as a venue for artwork and opinions.) In the interest of protecting those who wish to write under a different name (bloggers wishing to discuss their workplaces without risk of cease and desist orders or getting fired for ‘not being a good fit,’ those who live in areas not tolerant of their race/politics/values/identity/etc who want privacy, those in Burma, China, and other countries with less freedom of speech, etc) we oppose any misguided legal precedent setting that could be turned against a future unpopular author to silence them.

Hopefully we’re closer to having national shield laws for journalists to protect them from legal action for not disclosing sources to whom they have already promised anonymity, too. Reporters should not be forced to break promises and people need the protection of anonymity/privacy at times in order to speak the truth. Government prosecutors should not interfere with the freedom of the press any more than they should with the confessional booth, to respect and allow for the private social functions of those institutions.

(Of course, ethical journalists should do their homework and ask around and not take the word of one anonymous source, either.)