Slashdot Mirror
Tennesee Man Charged In "Virtual Pornography" Case
mcgrew writes "CNN reports that 'A Tennessee man is facing charges of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor for what authorities say are three pictures — none of them featuring an actual child's body. Instead, according to testimony presented at Michael Wayne Campbell's preliminary hearing in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Wednesday, the photos feature the faces of three young girls placed on the nude bodies of adult females, CNN affiliate WDEF reported.'"
To me, this "crime" is, at best, an unauthorized use of somebody's image. There was no victim. There was no harm. In all reality, the girls would never have even known this was going on until the prosecutors decided to "protect" them from seeing it and thus turned it into an international news story. I bet they know all about it now.
Did you notice that the perpetrator used images of local girls? Girls he actually knew in his area. We've got some guy making and publishing pornographic images featuring the faces of neighborhood girls. That's basically advertising his sexual attraction to young girls that he knows and has physical access to. It constitutes a risk, in this case. It exposes predatory intent on the part of the man.
Laws have been specifically passed to prevent this sort of thing. You may not use a child's image in pornographic matter. There are laws against it--and laws are not viral, there is no slippery slope, this is case where protection of children against pedophiles is of the utmost importance. If a couple creepy people who merely fantasize about(but do not end up raping) local children get taken down in the process, it's probably beneficial to society.