Re:Man jailed in UK for refusing to give police USB stick pa...
by nine_k on Wednesday January 15, 2014 @10:40AM
(#7063891)
There's a subtle problem.
When people you don't like are prosecuted for a thought crime, or something else you won't like good guys being prosecuted for, you don't care. Bad guys may go to hell no matter what!
When people you do like are prosecuted for technically the same thing, you might start caring, but it might be a bit late then.
A bad law is a bad law, no matter if a bad guy or a bad guy becomes its victim. The law seemingly does not care about your notion of 'good / bad guys'. It's not unlike a contagious disease hitting a bad guy. Not caring about this disease is a poor policy, even if you sincerely wish that bad guy to die. The virus is not going to discriminate.
When you protest about a bad law doing a bad thing to a bad guy, you're not doing it for the benefit of the bad guy (unless you're a saint). You're doing it for the benefit of good guys that risk to be hit with the same bad law.
When people you don't like are prosecuted for a thought crime, or something else you won't like good guys being prosecuted for, you don't care. Bad guys may go to hell no matter what!
When people you do like are prosecuted for technically the same thing, you might start caring, but it might be a bit late then.
A bad law is a bad law, no matter if a bad guy or a bad guy becomes its victim. The law seemingly does not care about your notion of 'good / bad guys'. It's not unlike a contagious disease hitting a bad guy. Not caring about this disease is a poor policy, even if you sincerely wish that bad guy to die. The virus is not going to discriminate.
When you protest about a bad law doing a bad thing to a bad guy, you're not doing it for the benefit of the bad guy (unless you're a saint). You're doing it for the benefit of good guys that risk to be hit with the same bad law.