What proportion of the population has child pornography on their cell phones, or their computers?

submitted by jerryk from self.WayOfTheBern

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[–]ageingrockstar 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

My position on this (albeit, not deeply thought out) is that having photos of anything should not itself be an offence.

Certainly having photos of some things can indicate a sick mind and also be possible indication of complicity in a crime. So that might give reason for the individual to be investigated.

I'm also aware that the production of some photos is incentivised by the demand for them so that crimes may be commited to satisfy that demand. That is indeed problematic.

But I think you need to go after the crime itself (which the photo is evidence of) and not the photos themselves.

Again, this isn't a position I've given a great deal of thought to, so criticism welcome. It basically springs from my instinct that photos of anything are 'free speech' and that persecution for having photos of any subject matter, however distasteful, is a violation of free speech. That shouldn't stop search warrants, but any photos turned up should be used as possible evidence of a crime, and not a crime in themselves.

[–]Maniak🥃😾 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm also aware that the production of some photos is incentivised by the demand for them so that crimes may be commited to satisfy that demand. That is indeed problematic.

But I think you need to go after the crime itself (which the photo is evidence of) and not the photos themselves.

To your point, "Crime is being incentivized by the demand" is a recurring idea but it seems to be mostly used as a way to either justify additional authoritarian measures or to go the 'low-hanging fruit' rather than the root cause. In the same way that voter blaming is a way to avoid having to deal with the politicians and their actual crimes.

The US government is currently, effectively, committing a genocide in Palestine. Are Americans supporting the congresspeople letting it happen also guilty?

When Americans vote for corrupt genocidal politicians, are they creating a demand for genocide?

Are they criminals who should be prosecuted because it's so much easier to go after them than after the politicians themselves?

Would putting all those who keep voting democrat or republican behind bars stop duopoly politicians from being the criminally corrupt mass-murdering assholes they are?

Or is this idea of "let's go after the people who are 'creating the demand for the crime'" a complete misdirection, by design?