Legal status of virtual PIM in US

The article linked below gives a very good and quite comprehensive account of the current and likely future legal status of computer generated Prohibited Images of Minors (PIM) in the US. The author, Riana Pfefferkorn, is not an ally, but she is sensitive to the potential for attempts to control computer generated PIM to lead to (further?) limitations on free speech, which she believes would be a bad thing and also not necessary to achieve the claimed objectives. A key issue here is the limited constitutional protection for computer generated images that were created without the use of photographic documentation of illegal sexual behavior involving minors currently provided by the US Supreme Court's 2002 decision in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition. Pfefferkorn concedes that it is plausible the current Supreme Court would be open to reversing Ashcroft, most likely on a "prosecutorial necessity" basis, that is, an argument that as computer generated images become harder and harder to distinguish from actual photographs of minors, it will become impossible for authorities to prove that any images are the latter and not just the former. She provides coherent objections to this line of reasoning. I am not sure how many people here will want to read this whole article, but anyone in the US who collects computer generated boy erotica would be well advised to have a copy. If you happen to be arrested and charged under the statutes Pfefferkorn discusses, this article could save your lawyer many hours of tedious research. (Note that in order to "have a copy," it would probably have to be someplace other than on your computer, since if you are unlucky enough to be criminally charged, the police will undoubtedly have seized your computer and you will not have access to it.) hugzu ;-p (https site) Pfefferkorn, ADDRESSING COMPUTER-GENERATED CHILD SEX ABUSE IMAGERY: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS [@nonymouse] [Guardster] [Proxify] [Anonymisierungsdienst]