Reply #40: Okay ... [View All]

[RoyGBiv]

Fair enough.

Now, in a cartoon, how do you know it's a child?

I sympathize very, very strongly with what you're saying. I was sexually abused as a child. And I know the difference between mainstream porn and KP.

I don't know how one always knows the difference with this type of animation. Sure, some of it is probably very, very clear, but it's not like traditional porn where the producers are required to keep records proving the age of the performers. When we slide just past the very clear stuff -- and the stuff I've seen in stores and in SPAM is quite a ways past the very clear stuff -- you hit a barrier of definition I'm not real comfortable trying to define. What constitutes "proof" that the depiction is of an underage person? Is it lack of pubic hair? People shave. Is it a voice? Some people have weird voices. How about the "school girl" motif? A "school girl" in Japan, where most of this stuff is produced, is often what would here be a college-aged person, but if they have no pubic hair, a "childish" voice, and have a flat chest does that mean they are underage? It's a cartoon, and you can't get a birth certificate for a cartoon.

My point is simply that the potential for abuse of this kind of law is enormous. I would have no qualms whatsoever if the guy had been convicted under existing laws against actual child pornography. Hell, I'd buy the gas for the van that takes him to prison. I'm just very suspicious of the fact they used this particular statute when they claim they also found actual CP on the same computer. Why would they do that?