Cartoon justice: Man convicted for Simpsons porn
dan tynan on Dec 09 2008 at 2:54 pm | Filed under: Computerworld, Culture Crash, Da Web, politics
Can possessing lewd images of Lisa and Bart Simpson earn you jail time? In the land down under, the answer apparently is yes.
Here I go again, out of the frying pan and into a three-alarm fire.
An Australian man has been convicted of possessing child porn for having lewd images of The Simpsons on his hard drive. Alan John McEwan has been fined A$3000 and placed on two years’ probation, but he could have been sent away for up to 10 years. Per the Sydney Morning Herald:
McEwan appealed the decision arguing that fictional cartoon characters could not be considered people as they “plainly and deliberately” departed from the human form…. But Justice Adams agreed with the magistrate, finding that while The Simpsons characters had hands with four fingers and their faces were “markedly and deliberately different to those of any possible human being”, the mere fact that they were not realistic representations of human beings did not mean that they could not be considered people.
So I have a question for the judge. If The Simpsons are real people, and they were all “born” in April 1987, doesn’t that make them 21 years old?
Personally, I think anyone who abuses kids should be locked up for life, with no chance of parole. People who sell pictures of abused kids should occupy the cell right next door. But a potential 10-year sentence simply for downloading a photo – or a lewd cartoon – seems a bit extreme. That’s just my personal opinion, not necessarily that of any other person, human or animated.
For the rest of this post — and the angry comments that are certain to follow — see my Culture Crash blog on Computerworld.
