@gungasnake,
gungasnake wrote:I have zero use for pedophiles and/or child pornography...
But I have a big problem with any law enforcement agents being able to raid computers LOOKING for such stuff; just way too many ways image files could get PUT on computers by viruses or hacking activities without the owner even knowing anything about it. What you're talking about is basically a flavor of thought crime and there's no really certain way to even say whose thoughts in all cases.
Yes; thought crime is old news,
e.g., during the Korean War, we captured a lot of
Red Chinese
soldiers carrying pocket diaries in which thay were required
by their commissars to record their thoughts periodically
thru out the day.
If the commissar became suspicious that the soldier
was less than candid, he 'd be in serious trouble.
All my life, I 've been fascinated by how people think,
including people who vote the same way that I do,
e.g., when I was beginning my career as a trial lawyer,
I worked with an older conservative trial lawyer,
who expressed objections to my having our
investigators fully explore the facts of a case
because a witness who appeared to have
exculpatory knowledge favoring our client was a child.
(I coud not possibly care less than I did qua the age
of the witness.) I pointed out that our duty was to
our client; we had no duty to any witness; age was irrelevant.
Getting the
job done was very relevant.
I argued that failure to ascertain the facts n use them for our case
was
malpractice n professional negligence against our client
and I methodically probed his arguments against taking a statement
from the juvenile witness. In the end, he said that if the witness
were
HIS daughter, he 'd not want her statement to be taken
(i.e., he preferred to expose the firm to a judgment for malpractice
for, in effect, abandoning our client by neglecting necessary work).
I
SENT out the investigator to do his job.
The
interface between the rational analysis of
calculation
(e.g., when u r planning your tax strategy) and naked emotion
(e.g., what turns u on in the opposite gender or what political principles u lust for)
is deeply interesting, at least to
MY mind.
This interface reveals itself optimally in certain
sore points,
or "hot button issues", e.g. abortion, racial discrimination,
gun control, and the censorship of erotic materials, especially if children r concerned.
