Is it illegal to follow criminals on twitter to keep up with what they're doing so you can defend yourself?

[john]

And by criminals I mean the hackers "Lulzsec". I followed them on twitter via text messaging so it would be easier to defend myself when they release passwords. The faster I get the message, the faster I can change my passwords.

So is it illegal to do this (as in once the hackers get punished, I will be punished too), or am I safe?

[Mutt]

You can follow who ever you want on Twitter. And you can friend anyone you want on Facebook. Reasonable adults and lawmakers understand that these sites are not real life.

[Ethan Beale]

The reason they have a twitter is so that people know what theyre doing. They aren't hacking to gain anything, they're hacking to raise awareness of the lab of security on the internet.

[yep]

Why would it be? It is a public forum.