Slashdot Mirror
Canadian Charges Against US Manga Reader Dropped
tverbeek writes "The U.S.-based Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Canada-based Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund have announced that the Canadian government has withdrawn all criminal charges in R. v. Matheson, a case which involved a U.S. citizen who was arrested and faced criminal charges in Canada relating to manga found on his computer when he entered the country. Customs agents declared the illustrations of fictional characters to be 'child pornography.' The defendant, a 27-year-old comic book reader, amateur artist, and computer programmer, has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. Despite financial assistance from the CBLDF and CLLDF, he has an outstanding debt of $45K for his defense."
If you drop charges from the case then you should pay the legal fees for the defense. Or is this up to the judge?
Legal systems aren't any fun to ever get involved with.
gee, only $45,000 in debt
I knew that it would be best to leave my laptop at home when entering Canada. Even the Canadian customs officer, who was very nice, said, "That was a wise decision".
"Mr. Matheson has agreed to plead to a non-criminal code regulatory offense under the Customs Act of Canada."
Hey look buddy, we know you're going to sue the pants off of us if we don't nail you with something, so our lawyers found this obscure section of the customs code that is really vague and could nail anyone, because heh, that's what it's there for, and anyway, yeah... you're guilty, and your sentence is, er, nothing. But the important thing here is that justice was served: Namely, We Got Our Man(tm). Er, sorry about ruining your life dude... sorta. Okay, not really. Heh heh, eh? Now if you'll excuse us, we have to go watch videos of ourselves beating the crap out of a bunch of illegal immigrants as part of some 'sensitivity training'. It's mandatory, and so the boss made it BYOB. Man this job sucks... they don't pay for the beer. My last law enforcement job paid for the beer... oh .. crap... is this thing still recording?
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
As distasteful as it may be in the case of images produced with the intent to be a form of child pornography, it sickens me to see artificially-produced images classified as child pornography. It opens the door to criminally penalizing people for something which must be judged based solely on opinion. There cannot be an objective judgment that an artificially-produced image constitutes "underage pornography," and criminal penalties should be based as closely on objectivity as possible.
These resources should be directed toward finding and jailing people who produce child pornography using actual children, not those who produce images which require (sometimes highly) subjective interpretation.
No crime committed.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Child sex abuse imagery is illegal because producing it involves sexually abusing children, not because images of child abuse happen to offend most people. If no children are being abused, then what is the logic for making the cartoons illegal?
Palm trees and 8
Yes, we are well aware of how a plea bargain is used as extortion to force people to accept a charge they are innocent of when they cannot afford a proper defense or are afraid of the kangaroo court. Often it's used as an excuse to not pay damages that are ethically owed to the defendant.
the important bit from the actual article.
I beg to differ. The important bit from the actual article:
He was subjected to abusive treatment by police and a disruption in his life that included a two-year period during which he was unable to use computers or the internet outside of his job, severely limiting opportunities to advance his employment and education. ... Matheson was even told by police transporting him to prison that "if you get raped in here, it doesn't count!"
What a !@#$ing travesty, and for a comic book! Sue for malicious prosecution. They admitted their guilt when they dropped it. That it took them two years and $31,000.00 from two advocacy orgs PLUS, is even worse! Both those orgs and Ryan deserve to be compensated for this cluster!@#$.
And I don't even *get* Manga. Holy Kafkaesque, Batman! :-P
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
Better that people like Al Capone run free than innocent people be punished.
Depiction of children having sex is illegal in Canada. Even if you personally wrote it, or drew it.
Slide 1: Picture of anime character, age 10
Slide 2: Picture of anime character, age 14
Slide 3: Picture of anime character, age 18
Slide 4: Picture of anime character, age 20
Slide 5: Picture of anime character, age 30
Okay, if it would please the court, could the prosecution please point out which of these pictures depicts underage children, and which are of adults? Oh.. you mean it's the exact same artistic style? That there is no difference? Oh... okay.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
When you have to cross a border, assume that the customs agent is going to be an under-educated, under-paid, bigotted, rule thumping misanthrope with an axe to grind who's job is essentially workfare for the distant relative of a petty bureaucrat.
I've traveled through North America, Asia, and Europe, and the above statement would apply to 95% of border guards/customs officials I've had to deal with.
1. Travel light.
2. Pack no printed material of any sort - if you're traveling for business, fax, email, or Fedex your documents ahead of you.
3. Computers/Laptops can and will be confiscated on the slightest pretext. You will never see it again. It's an early Christmas/Birthday gift for the Customs Official's kid.
4. Learn the etiquette of bribes for the country you are about to visit, especially in the "in some places its really dumb to try and bribe officials, in others it's an insult not to bribe them" sense.