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

falkvinge.net

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

#271
This makes me sick. It has been conclusively proven that pornography can be harmful to families and relationships. Would child port be better somehow. This is only the first part of why this is so sick. The second being that there would be a legal market for kidde porn? How could this help kids in any way?

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

#272
I bumped into this a while ago and it was an interesting read:

  http://wikileaks.org/wiki/An_insight_into_child_porn
Everyone take it with a grain of salt according to your personal taste, but IMHO it does more than adequately illustrate the point that the concept of child porn, starting from its definition is anything but black-and-white.

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

#273
Please delete this garbage troll article from HackerNews. My children use more logic and intelligence when trying to convince me of something. This is the weakest bunch of BS I have ever read. I think that my 8 year old could poke holes in every single one of the arguments presented. Do intelligent humans really buy a single word of his three reasons why child porn should be legalized. He is clearly into child porn himself. let me say that I started watching porn at age ten, as did most of my friends, and I enjoyed it. I actively sought it out and kept seeking it out (as I still do).

Let me sum up (for those of you who could not stay awake through all the waste of bandwidth you just spent pulling up that article).

Here are his reasons.

1. The ban prevents catching/jailing child molesters. He claims that everyone will be wearing Google glass type devices in the future and recording everything so if they see a kid being raped in the park that the rapist will just laugh knowing that they cannot go to the cops because they now posses child porn.

Is he really serious? Yeah cause this happens all the time. I can see my grandma brought before a jury and convicted on possession of kidde porn cause she had her Google glass on during her stroll in the park.

Discretion is used by any DA or investigator. I could never see this happening in a modern society. Even if the prosecutor was a complete buffoon and arrested my grandma for this, no jury would ever convict her and that prosecutor would soon be out of work after the media got a hold of the story. I am sure that (worse case) this would take about one time and the law would be changed slightly to protect my grandma (similar to the now infamous "stand your ground" law). Funny that the author wants to make kidde porn legal and not change the law to be more discretionary (quite an insight into his morives).

2. The laws brand a whole generation as sex offenders. His argument is that teenagers who have consensual sex sometimes record it and they will be arrested as sex offenders and prosecuted. If this is the case they why has there not ever been a single case of this happening? He is again trying to invent an imaginary problem as an argument for legalizing kidde porn.

3. The free speech war is won/lost at the battle of child porn. Another joke of an invented reason. Abe Lincoln once said "Your Liberty To Swing Your Fist Ends Just Where My Nose Begins". This is true for the freedom of speech also. Our freedom of speech ends where someone else is violated or their rights infringed on. This has been the pattern throughout the history of our country. This is nothing new. He tries to make a point that we are losing our rights and if we don't make kidde porn legal, we will lose more and more rights.

Clearly a logical and convincing argument by the upright and honorable MR. Rick Falkvinge... hahaha

I actually am really disappointing to find such tripe floating around here, I really am.

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

#274

There's a lot of food for thought here, and important points. But in one area, the author completely glosses over a crucial distinction: > why is it only documentation of sex crimes against minors that are being banned in this way? The lawmen are perfectly fine with a video documenting how a teenager is being stabbed with a screwdriver in both eyes, then murdered. ... why is the ban just related to anything sexual, a…

Isn't the easy answer virtual child porn? I really see no reason why this is also illegal except it makes people feel icky. This allows potential rapists to satisfy their desires without harming any actual children.

Virtual Child Porn is not illegal(in America) but obscene material is. Obscenity charges are rare and would only apply to hardcore porn if someone ever is brought up on such charges. They are a hard sell so it's not really perused by law enforcement. There is nothing wrong with it. If VCP was to be made illegal, violent video games should be made illegal too. America should follow Finland's footsteps and not makes laws on anything that does not harm someone physically or psychologically.

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

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is why ? "It's ok to picture murdering your entire family over dinner with a fork, as long as you don't really do it". Not, it's not ok. Why would you want to accept and encourage behavior that is not sane?

Yes, it is ok. If the only thing stopping me from doing horrible things was that I haven't yet imagined doing them, then I and everyone around me should be terrified of me. Fortunately, my self-control seems to be a little stronger than that. Though it is not helpful for everyone to be told by implication that they have permanently terrible self-control (or any similar implication). [1] Fortunately I seem pretty good…

I just did picture murdering my family over dinner with a fork. I decided the idea holds no attraction to me, and is pretty stupid. I am not worried about deciding to do it in the foreseeable future. Feel free to explain how this situation is not ok.

So are you saying that no one is ever harmed physically or emotionally when kidde porn is made? The opposite is actually true.

I'm glad Falkvinge is addressing this issue. It had to be done, sooner or later. And he makes a powerful case--especially section 2

2. The laws brand a whole generation as sex offenders. His argument is that teenagers who have consensual sex sometimes record it and they will be arrested as sex offenders and prosecuted. If this is the case they why has there not ever been a single case of this happening? He is again trying to invent an imaginary problem as an argument for legalizing kidde porn.

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

#276
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drug prohibition is a different issue. Yes, there are cases of things which are not child porn in spirit, however its important to remember that there are things that are actual child porn. There are pictures of young children and toddlers and babies being raped. We don't see them in the mass media, because they are disgusting, but they exist. Don't forget that creating this pictures is probably one of the most horri…

Okay, but how does it justify criminalizing 16 years old taking shots of themselves?

I don't think that should be illegal. The reason its illegal is stupid "think of the children" / "why are our kids having sex?" / 'sex is bad' voters.

However real child porn should be illegal.

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

#277
Sorry but the pro arguments are rather silly and far fetched. The last time I checked witnessing a crime is not a crime. Child Porn is just wrong. There is no legitimate reason for it to exist. It is taboo for a number of reasons, not the least of which is is perpetrated against defenseless children.

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

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a proposal. Mere possession should be legal, as Falkvinge argues. What should be illegal is purchasing child porn. You might reply that it might be difficult to prove that money changed hands, particularly in this brave new Bitcoin world. Fine. Let's say that possession of images that are known to have been sold to anyone at any time constitutes prima facie circumstantial evidence that the person possessing th…

"Here's a proposal. Mere possession should be legal, as Falkvinge argues. What should be illegal is purchasing child porn." Really? Why focus on purchase, when sharing is just as bad as far as incentivizing people producing new material to satisfy demand? People will scan and distribute books, or crack software and distribute it, purely for whuffie or reputation. They'll do the same with child porn.

>Why focus on purchase, when sharing is just as bad as far as incentivizing people producing new material to satisfy demand?

Huh? Sharing increases supply and thus reduces demand. The more people are sharing existing child porn, the less profit there is to be made in producing new material.

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

#279
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, however, most prosecutors are trying to get high conviction rates, and don't care about the good to society.

Wouldn't that deter prosecutors from going after relatively minor crimes that are less likely to lead to a conviction?

Not really, a plea bargain resulting in any punishment at all counts as a conviction for the prosecutor. A case like CP or cocaine possession which are in most jurisdictions basically straight liability crimes are very nearly guaranteed convictions. Plus, it never looks bad for a prosecutor to have convicted a child pornographer when it comes time to run for re-election. And not prosecuting such a case would lead to ads run against you saying that you're soft on child rapists.

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

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is ok. If the only thing stopping me from doing horrible things was that I haven't yet imagined doing them, then I and everyone around me should be terrified of me. Fortunately, my self-control seems to be a little stronger than that. Though it is not helpful for everyone to be told by implication that they have permanently terrible self-control (or any similar implication). [1] Fortunately I seem pretty good…

I just did picture murdering my family over dinner with a fork. I decided the idea holds no attraction to me, and is pretty stupid. I am not worried about deciding to do it in the foreseeable future. Feel free to explain how this situation is not ok. So are you saying that no one is ever harmed physically or emotionally when kidde porn is made? The opposite is actually true. I'm glad Falkvinge is addressing this issu…

Yes, it happens fairly regularly. The concept of 'sexting' nude pictures of each other has become fairly ubiquitous in many places, and it happens semi regularly that a jilted ex will report to police about the existence of such photos, QED. It's happened in my state several times in the last year.
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