Comments | ninamonkey: WOW. IF YOU READ COMICS, READ THIS. *NOT. COOL.*

ninamonkey

WOW. IF YOU READ COMICS, READ THIS. NOT. COOL.

Nov 25, 2008 07:33

Did you know you can be arrested for possession of child pornography if you read comic books? No?

Well, if the Iowa courts get their way, it could become a reality. Folks, this is real stuff worth fighting for. Thank God for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Talk about trampling rights and freedoms!

Let's hope this gets thrown out of court. If not ( Read more... )

cbldf, freedoms, rights

Comments 2

pikacharma November 25 2008, 20:04:16 UTC

What the fuck!! I thought the courts had already ruled that it's not child pr0n if there's no real children. Like, child pr0n by *definition* has to involve a real actual child, or else it's just dirty drawings.

ninamonkey November 25 2008, 20:15:03 UTC

There's a small section in the clause that's still under review - and that's what this guy is being hit with: Eric Chase and his team at the United Defense Group have been vigorously defending Handley, and scored a major First Amendment victory earlier this year when the judge found portions of the PROTECT Act unconstitutional in his ruling on a motion to dismiss. District Judge Gritzner of the Southern District of Iowa found that subsections 1466(a)(2) and (b)(2) of 18 U.S.C. 1466A unconstitutional. Those sections make it a crime to knowingly produce, distribute, receive, or possess with intent to distribute, "a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting," that "is, or appears to be" a minor engaged in sexual conduct. Judge Gritzner found that those sections restrict protected speech and are constitutionally infirm.

Handley now faces charges under the surviving sections of 1466A, which will require a jury to determine whether the drawings at issue are legally obscene. The press release of ( ... )