Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
"The case has alarmed First Amendment experts, who believe Dalton…
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2001 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Call me crazy, but I believe that if a particular creative work does not harm anyone, either in its making or in its effects on those who experience it, then maybe, just maybe, it shouldn't be illegal. If I use crayons on paper to make a picture of youngish-looking people engaging in sex, completely out of my own head -- and I'm pretty sure I've never viewed child porn -- and keep it to myself, then that shouldn't be illegal. Nor if I wrote a story about it, nor if I made realistic-looking portrayals using graphics software. The GIMP is not the PIMP; "it might someday indirectly lead to molestation" is not sufficient cause for arrest.
