US Intensifies Fight Against Child Pornography

TechnoGuyRob writes "BBC News is reporting that the Bush administration has recently stepped up its measures against child pornography. From the article 'Sadly, the internet age has created a vicious cycle in which child pornography continually becomes more widespread, more graphic, more sadistic, using younger and younger children. [...] Mr. Gonzales also said that he is investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders.'"

Comments

First Amendment Nullified

[MisterSquid]

I recently blogged on this issue because I'd discovered that a Virginia man (Dwight Whorley) was sentenced to 20 years in jail for downloading cartoon pornography.

I don't think Whorley or his ilk are the best arguments for the importance and necessity of free speech, but Whorley's plight is of particular concern because the material he has been convicted of downloading was concocted from imagination. They were cartoons. In other words, Whorley has been jailed for what can only be seen as pure speech. Whether the current administration really is interested in protecting society from child pornographers is irrelevant. Whorley's successful conviction and extraordinary sentencing set the precedent that pure expression (which may have harmed no one) can be found illegal.

We live in dangerous times and I worry that it won't be long before critics of the US government and/or political opponents of the powerful find themselves in straits similar to Whorley's.

Re:First Amendment Nullified

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Actually, if I remember correctly, Mr. Whorely also possessed *actual* child pornography. However, the non-photographic artwork that he possessed weighed heavily upon his sentence.

The linked article said that there were no photographs of actual children. Just drawings.

Homeland Security official in child porn sting

[Gary Destruction]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/04/homeland.arrest/ index.html

Re:Great....

[shmlco]

When do we start putting cameras inside the home?

"Most sexual abuse is committed by men (90%) and by persons known to the child (70% to 90%), with family members constituting one-third to one-half of the perpetrators against girls and 10% to 20% of the perpetrators against boys" (Finkelhor, 1994).

Re:One wonders

[sasami]

You can count the children molested and killed by strangers in the past few years on the fingers of one hand (there were 4). That's in the entire USA. The average is about 1.5 per year, contrast to the 9 kids hit by lightning and the 3 children killed by baseballs.

Citation, please. And "molested and killed" is unquestionably a poor metric, since I personally know two people who were molested, and not killed, by strangers. And I don't know very many people.

And on top of that we can add in the figures for child sex trafficking, for which the US has allegedly become one of the largest markets.

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Dum de dum.