[logfromblammo]

You actually can get together with your friends and plan an overthrow of the government. That's exactly what the Free State Project is. It just so happens that their plot does not include violence or other criminal behaviors.

And you can plan a murder. The conversation itself is not a crime. But it is very damning evidence if the prospective victim that was discussed actually turns up dead, showing that the crime was, in fact, premeditated murder and not a less severely punished type of homicide, and that accomplices were involved. The speech is not the crime. It is evidence of malicious intent if a crime subsequently occurs. It may also be useful intelligence that could allow someone to interfere with a crime in progress.

If you overhear the murder conversation, you might be able to prevent a murder. But those guys could have been talking about their clan strategy for a MMORPG raid, and you simply misunderstood the intent. You don't know for certain until someone acts.

Censorship cannot stop crimes. It can only conceal evidence.

[ibebrett]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(criminal)#United_St...

[logfromblammo]

It seems the drug war subverts sensible legal principle again. I find the reasoning behind US v. Shabani to be completely abhorrent. And as a 9-0 decision, it's absolutely shameful. You can't reasonably prove that a conspiracy to commit a crime existed if the criminal act never actually happened. You would think that at least one justice would have thought that through a bit more, and dissented.