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Comment by ZeroMinx | Hacker News Reader

It's a brave new world when thinking/discussing certain topics is illegal.

Thoughtcrime is one of the cornerstones of the justice system, it's not new at all. For pretty much any charge if you've considered or planned that action you'll pickup an additional conspiracy charge whether or not you actually carried out the plan. Libel/Slander are pure expression liabilities. As well mens rea or 'guilty mind' is an essential part of most prosecutions.

Look at what the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI found in just one two man office: over 40% of the documents concerned monitoring of political groups.

It's not armed groups that are dangerous, it's ideas. This is why people REALLY don't like Wikileaks, it exposes the truth and provides it for the people to judge in its raw and unadulterated form. Wikileaks poses only a threat to those whose power derives from deceiving the people.

Libel and slander can both have hard evidence (and libel has it by definition because it requires that there be something written, such as a publication of lies and demonstration of damages; slander is verbal, but there can be recordings). They are not automatically thought crimes.

Your example laws are all against thinking about doing something bad and then doing it. That's a bit different from criminalizing the thought in isolation.

That's a moot point as there is no way short of admission to prove a thought occurred in isolation. Freedom of thought is useless with out freedom of expression. Somethings certainly should be illegal to express but that doesn't make it not thoughtcrime. I'm glad people can't plan my murder with out charge, but lets not pretend it isn't thoughtcrime.

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