LOTS of manga/anime now illegal in Sweden; soon to be in EU

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They have already done that, as the case of Christopher Handley shows.


http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13486.html

I find lolicon drawings as disturbing as most people do, but I don't think people should be sentenced to 20 years and branded sex offenders for owning a comic book. I also think that there is an important difference between real minors and drawings of minors. Besides, the same law could be used to take down an art installation that is meant as social criticism (for example, a naked child laborer in a sweatshop). Whatever happened to "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"?

It would not be wise to ban Manga in the EU because lots of teens and children buy Manga it is very popular in North and South America.

You're clearly not with it.

Some themes in Manga fall under pedophilla and child pornagraphy those should be banned but getting rid of all Manga is not fair to those who enjoy reading it.

I admit I didn't read the articale but their are similar drawings like that in books too not just Manga.

This particular law is rarely enforced, but there is the risk of facing jail time for anyone that participates. Not likely one is going to find the art judged as child porn in Manga, in bookstores, anymore in the US, unless the owner's of the book store, are willing to risk almost certain jail time, if caught, in the US.

I've seen plenty of manga with characters under 18 having sex in American book stores. It was a chain book store too, not some small independent book store. There are quite a few yaoi mangas about high school boys that are under 18.

Have you seen any since 2010, when the young man was convicted and sentenced to 6 months in prison, of possessing the comic books that you are describing?

If so, whomever operates the bookstore is skating on thin ice.

All it would take is a report from a customer to law enforcement, but relatively few people in the population are likely aware it is illegal, in a comic book. As more people are convicted and the issue is publicized more often in the mainstream media, awareness levels will go up, offenses will more often be reported, and law enforcement will likely gain greater attention to the issue per bookstores, if they still stock the Manga comic books with child porn depictions.

I haven't seen them lately because the book store in the mall by me closed years ago and there are no other book stores I go to. There are still lots of sites online selling them and doujinshi.

So what are people who already have these things when it becomes illegal supposed to do? Fear arrest or hold a book burning?

I consider this a violation of freedom of speech.

18 USC 1466AIn response to Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, Congress passed the PROTECT Act of 2003 (also dubbed the Amber Alert Law) and it was signed into law on April 30, 2003 by then president George W. Bush.[50] The law enacted 18 U.S.C. § 1466A, which criminalizes material that has "a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture or painting", that "depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and is "obscene" or "depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in ... sexual intercourse ... and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value".

By its own terms, the law does not make all simulated child pornography illegal, only that found to be obscene or lacking in serious value. And mere possession of said images is not a violation of the law unless it can be proven that they were transmitted through a common carrier, such as the mail or the internet, or transported across state lines.[51] There is also an affirmative defense made for possession of no more than two images with "reasonable steps to destroy" the images or reporting and turning over the images to law enforcement.[52]

In Richmond, Virginia, on December 2005, Dwight Whorley was convicted under 18 U.S.C. 1466A for using a Virginia Employment Commission computer to receive "...obscene Japanese anime cartoons that graphically depicted prepubescent female children being forced to engage in genital-genital and oral-genital intercourse with adult males."[53][54][55] He was also convicted of possessing child pornography involving real children. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[56]

On December 18, 2008 the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction.[57] The court stated that "it is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exists." Attorneys for Mr. Whorley have said that they will appeal to the Supreme Court.[58][59] The request for rehearing was denied on June 15, 2009 and the petition for his case to be reviewed by the Supreme Court was denied on January 11, 2010.[60]

A man from Virginia asserted at his arrest that after viewing lolicon at a public library, he had quit collecting real child pornography and switched to lolicon.[61]

In October 2008, Neil Gaiman and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund became involved with the case of Christopher Handley. In 2009, Handley pled guilty to the charges and in February 2010 was sentenced to six months in prison.[62]

In October 2010, a 33 year old Idaho man, Steven Kutzner, entered into a plea agreement concerning images of child characters from the American animated television show, The Simpsons engaged in sexual acts.[63][64] In January 2011, Kutzner was sentenced to serve 15 months in federal prison. According to court documents, Kutzner had been downloading, receiving and viewing sexually explicit images of actual children for at least eight years.[65]

In October 2011, a Maine man was arrested for possession of child pornography. He also possessed "anime" images, and is facing state and federal charges according to police.[66][67]

So far Christopher Handley has been the only person found guilty of possession under laws against artificial depictions that was not also under investigation for child pornography involving real minors.[citation needed][dubious – discuss]

Cultural norms in countries with laws are reflected by those laws. The enforcement of cultural norms, is the main reason countries have laws.

It works the other way as well, when one is moving goal posts. Communities, through a democratic process determine what cultural norms are and legally enforce them, to restrict behavior, that is not part of the culturaly accepted norm.

A little bit of censorship to protect the overall rights of those in entire countries, not to be bound by the cultural norms of smaller communities, is a fair trade off, considering that a decision could be made to completely ban internet porn as has been attempted in other countries. If there is a price to paid not to look at simulated child porn, that's not too high of a price to pay to keep the extreme amount of freedom that is already provided, beyond and above some local community standards, in the US.

I can't speak for Sweden, Germany, or the UK, but child porn is never going to be an accepted as a cultural norm in the US, regardless if it is animated or the real thing. That is where the US currently draws the line.

I'm surprised that Germany and Australia enforce stricter laws than the US. That's interesting; I wouldn't be surprised if the US eventually follows suit. Some of the stuff that is "legally" marketed definitely pushes the 12 to 13 year old danger zone, as to what could possibly be an adult of the age of consent. That's not something that is acceptable to the cultural norm in the US; it's unfortunate that goal post has to be moved that far, but it will be, if that is what it takes to protect overall cultural norms.