At 12:25 PM -0400 7/15/97, Unprivileged user wrote:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/5153.html
Making Imaginary Sex Illegal
by Ashley Craddock
So maybe it shouldn't be surprising that Congress has made it a criminal offense to depict non-obscene, sexually explicit material involving anyone who "appears to be" a minor. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising that it made it a criminal offense to advertise materials in any way that "conveys the impression" that minors will be sexually depicted.
But what about the fact that Congress explicitly designed the law to make computer-simulated child porn illegal?
If "computer-simulated" images are legal, how can you tell that it is computer simulated? Everyone will then claim to be a talented artist, or use reverse aging algorithms on adult porn photos, or just use enough obvious features on a real picture to show computer alteration. Or, simply have a CG artist render the live scene? Which category would that be? JPEG is a lossy compression technique - would that alteration to a photograph be considered "computer simulation".
Exactly. Like crypto, technology is making moot these Nanny laws, but the legislators don't get it. I completely reject Congress' and the SC's different treatment of porn and graphic violence in the media. Either both or neither should be banned. The real issue is: Thought Crime. Should society have the right to control information content which cannot be shown to directly endanger or harm specific parties? I and many libertarians would say HELL NO. --Steve PGP encrypted mail PREFERRED (See MIT/BAL servers for my PK) PGP Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61 81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Schear (N7ZEZ) | Internet: azur@netcom.com 7075 West Gowan Road | Voice: 1-702-658-2654 Suite 2148 | Fax: 1-702-658-2673 Las Vegas, NV 89129 | --------------------------------------------------------------------- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; The courage to change the things I can; The weapons that make the difference; And the wisdom to hide the bodies of the people that got in my way;-) "Surveilence is ultimately just another form of media, and thus, potential entertainment." --G. Beato "We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true." -- Dr. Robert Silensky