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Comment by jgrahamc | Hacker News Reader

The other day his Twitter feed was cleaned up and a single tweet remained: http://twitter.com/#!/atopiary/status/94225773896015872 reading "You cannot arrest an idea". I guess he saw this coming.

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Isn't the second half of that 'but you can torture a metaphor' ?

I get the impression reading some of the blogs that some of the arrests recently have in fact picked up people who were 'known' to other people who might very well become somewhat more cautious.

Almost positive that's a direct quote toward the end of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta.

Which kinda makes me grin and roll my eyes at the same time.

That may be so, but I suspect it's in more direct reference to the LulzSec/Anon open letter to the FBI posted at http://pastebin.com/RA15ix7S

I'd guess that both were derived from Medgar Evers:

You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea.

I've been listening to the teaching company's audio lectures on the history of freedom, and I think the idea that "you can't kill an idea" is also represented in Socrates & Jesus-- both of their influences did not waver after death. /historynerd

http://topsy.com/twitter/atopiary

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You may not be able to arrest an idea, but you sure can give its owner more jail time for destroying evidence. What was he thinking?

I don't think anyone can claim the evidence was destroyed. All of their posts have been archived in many places.

One may still be charged with obstruction of justice if there is a definite attempt to make unavailable evidence needed for a case, even if the unavailability is temporary until a suitable mirror can be found. It's such a broad definition for a criminal charge to have, and in this case I really think they would consider it.

Don't be silly. If a murderer burns the clothes in which he perpetrated the murder, he's not 'destroying evidence' in addition to being a murderer. Something must first have been determined to be evidence, before destroying becomes a criminal act. Neither are you obstructing justice by hiding evidence.

For similar reasons you are not compelled to incriminate yourself.

We don't have the 5th in the UK

Actually, I believe that is the case, although the charge pales in comparison to murder. IANAL, but the Green River Killer was convicted of contaminating a crime scene because he left false evidence to throw off investigators. From that, it appears that intentionally tampering with evidence of a crime - even if you created it - is illegal.

When you're facing the possibility of having multiple governments looking to 'come down hard' on you, I doubt destruction of evidence adds much to the mix.

Don't be silly. No one can own an idea. The very concept of "intellectual property" is false to facts.

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