Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

falkvinge.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 332 posts

Re: Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

#11

Post by sanxiyn »

krakensden wrote: post #9
sanxiyn wrote: post #6

In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcroft_v._Free_Speech_Coaliti... Supreme Court wrote: The Child Pornography Prevention Act also prohibits speech having serious redeeming value, proscribing the visual depiction of an idea -- that of teenagers engaging in sexual activity -- that is a fact of modern society and has been a theme in art and literature for centuries.

He seems to be writing primarily about Sweden.

I think the argument stands. I think even in Sweden, teenagers engaging in sexual activity is a fact of modern society and has been a theme in art and literature for centuries.

Re: Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

#12

Post by Cushman »

Presented as a reductio at the end of the article:

  It’s not illegal to film a murder.
  It’s not illegal to possess a film of a murder.
But one has to wonder: What if it were? What if YouTube had a button for "Report Illegal" that forwarded the video to law enforcement, hid it, and cleared it from your cache? What if people who watched video evidence of a crime and didn't report it to the authorities were treated as just a little bit complicit? What if the media were prevented from broadcasting potentially titillating evidence of crime to the public, but had to leave its analysis up to the professionals?

Can we say categorically that that would be bad for our society?

Re: Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

#15

Post by ThePherocity »

I hope he gets hit by a truck today. I really do. There isn't, nor will there ever be an argument where the enablement of child molestation and rape is acceptable. And if there is collateral damage, then so be it. I'd rather 100 go to jail wrongfully accused than to enable 1 child to be rape. This guy make me sick. Seriously Rick, please kill yourself.

Re: Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

#16

Post by Cushman »

[deleted] wrote: post #13

[deleted]

One of few completely valid points the author makes is that there is such a thing as victimless child pornography. In fact, since the advent of webcams, it's probably come to outnumber the bad stuff 10 to 1. Under the law, every time a high-school student texts a nude photo to their beau, they don't just have poor judgment-- they're both felons.

That is absurd, and worth having a reasoned discussion about.

Re: Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

#18

Post by bmelton »

ThePherocity wrote: post #15

I hope he gets hit by a truck today. I really do. There isn't, nor will there ever be an argument where the enablement of child molestation and rape is acceptable. And if there is collateral damage, then so be it. I'd rather 100 go to jail wrongfully accused than to enable 1 child to be rape. This guy make me sick. Seriously Rick, please kill yourself.

I'm not 100% sure if you read the article, but the _first_ _point_ is that making criminalizing child pornography (therefore causing 100 innocent people to wrongfully go to jail) will, in the future, enable more child rapes.

The possession of child pornography carries harsher penalties than the act of raping the child in the first place, which is I think wrong on a very obvious level, but by your (hopefully knee-jerk) reply, is a position you would agree with.

Re: Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

#19

Post by Falkvinge »

ThePherocity wrote: post #15

I hope he gets hit by a truck today. I really do. There isn't, nor will there ever be an argument where the enablement of child molestation and rape is acceptable. And if there is collateral damage, then so be it. I'd rather 100 go to jail wrongfully accused than to enable 1 child to be rape. This guy make me sick. Seriously Rick, please kill yourself.

Thank you for addressing me personally and wishing my premature death. However, I have no intention of obliging you in this particular matter.

Cheers and enjoy the Sunday night, Rick

Re: Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn

#20

Post by todayiamme »

lisper wrote: post #14
[deleted] wrote: post #13

[deleted]

> Flagged. Downvoted. Whatever else this article may be, it is well within the bounds of what is appropriate on HN.

I'm not saying that it's inappropriate for HN. I flagged it because I felt the author was courting controversy and neither did he present an interesting solution. It's hard to take an unpopular side and that takes moral courage, but the extensive use of reductio ad absurdum combined with the heavy handed way he delivered his arguments made me feel that the author isn't being entirely genuine.

edit: I deleted my comment because I wasn't adding anything to the conversation either.

Post reply on HN