Supreme Court to rule on virtual child porn

While US federal child pornography laws prohibit the use of minors “in any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct,” paedophiles are using computer technology to produce a new form of child pornography, which is not included under these statutes. Congress expanded the definition of child pornography in the CPPA of 1996 to include computer generated images of sexually explicit conduct if they are, or appear to be, of a minor engaging in that conduct.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared the statute unconstitutional, but the First, Fourth, and Eleventh Circuits have upheld it.

In Family Research Council filed its friend-of-the-court brief as an interested party in the case of Ashcroft against the Free Speech Coalition. The brief argues that:

• the new law only applies where the images are so realistic that they appear to be real, whether created in whole or part by polaroid or pentium;
• that counterfeit child porn is a clear and present danger to children because such realistic images would have the same incitement effect on paedophiles to molest children and the same seductive effect on children to become victims and, therefore, the act of knowingly producing, distributing, or possessing such child sex images should not be recognised as a type of protected expression under the First Amendment; and
• that such computer imaging technology is a threat to the effectiveness of the existing child exploitation statutes. Law enforcement officials could not find all the children in images studied and the argument is that there could be a reasonable doubt defence to prosecutions of even "real" child porn under the old statute because it cannot be assumed that what appears to be a picture of a child is actually of a real child when computers can create the same authentic-looking images.

In the UK, the Protection of Children Act makes it an offence to distribute or share indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children or have them in one’s possession with a view to doing this. Children include those under the age of 16 and those giving the impression that they are under 16. Data stored on a computer disk is also caught if it is capable of conversion into a photograph.

copy of the Family Research Council's brief