I agree it's not precisely mens rea; my point was simply that criminality has always depended in part on what was going on in people's heads.
Note that it's not just IP. Imagine constructing a prime from which one could decode child pornography. For that matter, imagine finding a prime whose ascii representation was a death threat: publishing that would be legal; sending it to someone with the expectation that they read it as ascii would be illegal.
The question is what is really going on, and a part of that is what's in people's heads. Law isn't voodoo, it's how we regulate actual behavior of actual people.
"Thought crime", in its Orwellian context, is entirely different. I can think whatever thoughts I want opposing the copyright monopoly or even opposing prohibition of child pornography - in fact, in some scopes, I've thought both of these kinds of thoughts - and not be guilty of any crime.
Note that it's not just IP. Imagine constructing a prime from which one could decode child pornography. For that matter, imagine finding a prime whose ascii representation was a death threat: publishing that would be legal; sending it to someone with the expectation that they read it as ascii would be illegal.
The question is what is really going on, and a part of that is what's in people's heads. Law isn't voodoo, it's how we regulate actual behavior of actual people.
"Thought crime", in its Orwellian context, is entirely different. I can think whatever thoughts I want opposing the copyright monopoly or even opposing prohibition of child pornography - in fact, in some scopes, I've thought both of these kinds of thoughts - and not be guilty of any crime.