Let me see your papers

The Post's website has infuriatingly started asking for registration information in order to view most stories. If you're local, they want to know everything about you: address, phone number, favorite color, next of kin, current GPS coordinates, your highest score on Ms. Pac-Man, name of person who took your virginity, etc.

To avoid the gestapo, and presumably avoid having your data sold to the highest bidder: if you've provided a local ZIP code in the past, clear all browser cookies from washingtonpost.com and washpost.com. The next time you go to view a story, it will ask for your information, but minus the address/phone/whatever fields. Enter a bogus ZIP code that's not local, and whatever other bogus information you like. The website doesn't care about the addresses of out-of-town visitors. You don't even have to enter a valid e-mail address to register.

Presto! Now they can't track you down. Although they may e-mail you a hale and hearty "fuck you" if you criticize their stories.