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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   19441 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026

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CP?

One can be a free speech absolutist and still think CSAM should be illegal. The thing that makes it evil is the manner of its production, not its distribution.

Banning mere possession (with no before-the-fact knowledge of production) is already on shaky ground, free-speech-absolutist-wise. As soon as you cross into "This should be illegal because it resembles actual CSAM" you have to turn in your absolutist card.

Actually, you've probably already lost your card when you ban production, because CSAM includes material produced by sexting teens.

CSAM includes material produced by sexting teens.

I think this is an extremely noncentral example of what people talk about when they talk about CSAM.

Central enough to produce real felony charges, apparently.

Could you provide a citation?

https://www.aclu.org/news/juvenile-justice/minnesota-prosecutor-charges-sexting-teenage-girl-child-pornography

https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crime-penalties/juvenile/sexting.htm

https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol32/iss1/1/

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-28255225

Such a case was also discussed somewhere on the motte but I couldn't immediately find it.

Fair enough, mea culpa. I don't think teens sexting should be legally classified as CSAM. By "CSAM" I was referring to the narrow case of photos and videos depicting minor children being sexually exploited.

I agree on that. But classifying "teens sexting" as non-CSAM does present additional difficulty in determining whether any random picture of dubious origin is a result of a minor being sexually exploited, doesn't it? I suppose you could assume any such picture that leaks out of private conversation counts, slamming the distributor.

I take "sexting" to mean sexually explicit text messages, not photos. In many jurisdictions sharing intimate photos without consent ("revenge porn") is a crime, and I presume that if the victim was a minor that would be considered an aggravating factor.

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