After the poster ban was repealed on Monday, August 5, utility poles around Capitol Hill, Downtown, Queen Anne, and Belltown were quickly covered by a loud-mouthed poster celebrating the decision. The black-and-white sign, with a photo of a young guy flipping off the camera, shouted, "Fuck Mark Sidran"--the former city attorney who wrote the ban--"This Poster Is Legal." On Queen Anne, someone methodically tore down all 50 that went up.

The poster bandit, who wants to be nameless, explains how it came together.

What was your first thought when you heard the ban was repealed?

"I was super-psyched. Here's four judges validating everything we've been saying, which is that this is unconstitutional. We're not fringe. Mark Sidran and the politicians on the city council who supported those laws are fringe. They're making unconstitutional laws."

What does this repeal mean for Seattle?

"The people who postered before were punk-rock bands. It's the smaller bands that really benefit from this. And those are the bands or the part of the scene that really--in the late '80s, early '90s--made Seattle great. It was really fucking fun."

Why such an in-your-face poster?

"It was really a utilitarian design. We wanted people to be able to see it when they drove by, be able to walk up to it and read the actual decision. So far, 500 went out, but there's probably another few hundred going up.

The poster designer picked the photo [from the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago], but obviously it's a classic political photo. And it just fit. It's impactful."

Did anyone get in trouble for hanging it?

"One guy was stopped Thursday and Saturday while he was hanging posters. Police told him to take the posters down. He said, 'No, this is legal now.' And he was told that he could either take the posters down or go to jail. He took the posters down, because he didn't want to go to jail."

Why do you want to stay anonymous?

"It seems cooler if nobody knows where it came from. I don't want credit for it."

Interview by Amy Jenniges