You don't need criminal intent to be persecuted (er prosecuted)

Two quotes:
"Under the English common law we inherited, a crime requires intent. This protection is disappearing in the U.S."
"being emotionally distressed is just part of living in a free society."
Congress would serve us well by spending one year out of four removing old, redundant and ineffective laws. Of course, that won't be happening.

L. Gordon Crovitz: You Commit Three Felonies a Day - WSJ.com:
"Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate calls his new book 'Three Felonies a Day,' referring to the number of crimes he estimates the average American now unwittingly commits because of vague laws. New technology adds its own complexity, making innocent activity potentially criminal.

Mr. Silverglate describes several cases in which prosecutors didn't understand or didn't want to understand technology. This problem is compounded by a trend that has accelerated since the 1980s for prosecutors to abandon the principle that there can't be a crime without criminal intent."