First of all, you're wrong about the 4th slot. An extra chip means more stats which means more damage which means faster XP. Ever try to level a PE to woc with drones? You most certainly need that 4th slot to use RK 1000's. Even constructors need the 4th slot for the extra construct they would get.

I have to disagree with you on your observation that more LE'd people are griefers than Non-LE'd people. Your particular sense of honor concerning ganking low level un'LE'd people unfortunately doesn't translate to the rest of the community as a whole. People will go out of their way to gank for no other reason but to kill someone, it's just inherent to the game as it stands today.

As an LE'd player you are already losing the 4th imp slot. You lose the ability to join and have the massive support of a clan. You lose the bonus clans get at their own out posts. You lose the ability to participate in the best feature of this game: PVP. You lose the ability to hack belts. And as of the next patch you will lose the ability to defend even your own vehicles and you must suffer the wrath of any un-LE'd guy who wants to shoot you without you being able to shoot him back.

There are already a big number of negatives attributed to keeping the LE in your head, I simply don't see the need to further penalize these LE'd people any further, especially because most of them don't want anything to do with PVP in the first place. You wouldn't get good fair fights, you would get easy ganks.