A U.S. comic book collector is being sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to importing and possessing Japanese manga books depicting illustrations of child sex and bestiality.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/02/obscene-us-manga-collector-jailed-6-months/

Reading Love LuckyRecommended B Gata H Kei <3 Conveni-N XD

i swear to god i hate america, with all the laws going out hardly anything is free to do anymore, it starts with the small things then just escalates, now we got cigarettes band in restaurants and most public areas next we got no cell phone use in cars then somewhere along the line no abortion, somethings gotta change with this crap.

Well technically it is child pornography which is illegal

Quote from solovolk

i swear to god i hate america, with all the laws going out hardly anything is free to do anymore, it starts with the small things then just escalates, now we got cigarettes band in restaurants and most public areas next we got no cell phone use in cars then somewhere along the line no abortion, somethings gotta change with this crap.

You do realize all those laws are for the safety of others and you post is narrow minded and inconsiderate.

No one gives a shit what trite garbage you write here.

Quote from secretdesires

Quote from solovolk

i swear to god i hate america, with all the laws going out hardly anything is free to do anymore, it starts with the small things then just escalates, now we got cigarettes band in restaurants and most public areas next we got no cell phone use in cars then somewhere along the line no abortion, somethings gotta change with this crap.

You do realize all those laws are for the safety of others and you post is narrow minded and inconsiderate.

How exactly does a law jailing an individual for possession of drawings protect anyone?

And no, I'm not into lolicon. I'm just curious about how you think this is protection.

If anything, fictional material such as this keeps people into this sort of thing out of trouble.

Well... I don't hate America. There are worse places to live in. But, there are some things that make me an unhappy camper.

I've been so paranoid about ordering manga/art books ever since I've heard of this incident. Just the thought that someone at the postal service can open my package out of curiosity, and then use that against me is absurd and frightening.

It's so sad that they are wasting their time prosecuting someone over something fictional. Unless they did find some concrete evidence that he is actually guilty of viewing/possessing child pornography, I don't think that he should have been even subjected to any of this.

According to this, I would be a criminal too. I don't even want to think of all the lolicon pictures on my hard drive. If I was living in the United States, I guess I had to hand myself over to the police right tomorrow.

Oh, by the way: If possession of lolicon manga is illegal in the US, does that mean that these manga are effectively banned?

Everyone has something to hide. But ayways, "lacking serious literary, artistic value". How in the world would they define that?

Lego & manga. The building blocks of life.

Quote from solovolk

i swear to god i hate america, with all the laws going out hardly anything is free to do anymore, it starts with the small things then just escalates, now we got cigarettes band in restaurants and most public areas next we got no cell phone use in cars then somewhere along the line no abortion, somethings gotta change with this crap.

Those laws are found everywhere, not only in America and they aren't meant to be for nothing.

Cell phones + cars = car accidents. Lots of them. You should pay attention to the road while driving, not using your phone.
Cigarettes and public places don't belong together. Think about it. Humans aren't born smokers therefore the majority of people are non-smokers who want to keep a healthy life, not inhale your second hand smoke.
And then abortion. Instead of getting into this situation you should have thought first of using a condom or other contraceptive methods. God knows there are plenty of them.

And as for the man with the comics I don't think he should have been arrested as long as he wasn't doing those things for real. Every collector has his/her passion about a certain thing. They shouldn't be restrained as long as it doesn't harm anyone.

[color=black]Does not compute.[/color]

Quote from ExzyruSxxx

Well technically it is child pornography which is illegal

Are you talking about the US? Because this guy wasn't convicted on child pornography. I own some Ranma 1/2 manga which show 16 year-olds topless. What this guy was convicted on could easily work on me, and just about anyone on this site. Wake up please.

Quote from willdabeast

Quote from ExzyruSxxx

Well technically it is child pornography which is illegal

Are you talking about the US? Because this guy wasn't convicted on child pornography. I own some Ranma 1/2 manga which show 16 year-olds topless. What this guy was convicted on could easily work on me, and just about anyone on this site. Wake up please.

I think the age 16 wouldn't be considered a "child" anymore, and besides, being topless is hardly "pornography". We're talking about a guy that probably had some raunchy stuff involving lolis.

Regarding the man's arrest....I'm personally against it, possibly because I occasionally read that stuff too. He just should've been more careful about where he puts his manga. A shame though.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/OkzQ4.png[/img]

Haha, America.

Quote from daisukidesuyo

I think the age 16 wouldn't be considered a "child" anymore, and besides, being topless is hardly "pornography". We're talking about a guy that probably had some raunchy stuff involving lolis.

Regarding the man's arrest....I'm personally against it, possibly because I occasionally read that stuff too. He just should've been more careful about where he puts his manga. A shame though.

Actually, in the U.S., anyone under eighteen is considered a minor. I don't know about simple nudity being considered pornography but that doesn't matter since the laws is against obscene images, not just pornography. A jury could have convicted him for buying a Love Hina manga.

Y'know, I knew he plead out but hearing about the sentencing still irks me. This case was a gross abuse of a flawed provision in an otherwise well intentioned set of laws. The limit against "depictions that the defendant’s community would consider 'obscene'" endangers any fan of ecchi, yuri, yaoi and hentai if they are stuck in a stick up the ass community.

On a side note, it is funny how quick people are willing to put down others nowadays for saying they hate America. Before 9/11 you used to see everyone saying how much they hate America all the time. America has problems. Its people has problems. Let a person vent about it instead of pretending nothing is wrong and telling them to shut up.

Oh, America, how silly are you.

Seriously. I don't see why it matters. As long as they aren't doing anything with it. Heck, I have Tokyo Akazukin on my hard drive, but its not as if I'm going to go out and try to recreate it. True, it might not add anything to society, but its not as if its detracting from it. No harm, no foul. In my opinion, anyway.

The limit against "depictions that the defendant’s community would consider 'obscene'" endangers any fan of ecchi, yuri, yaoi and hentai if they are stuck in a stick up the ass community. I thought by the "defendant's community" they were referring to the anime/manga community? Or maybe you're right. Still if its the anime/manga community that they were referring to, he must've been into some pretty hardcore stuff. If its his regular community, then you're right. We should all be afraid.... XD

Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?

Quote from daisukidesuyo

I think the age 16 wouldn't be considered a "child" anymore, and besides, being topless is hardly "pornography". We're talking about a guy that probably had some raunchy stuff involving lolis.
.

If any of his "raunchy" stuff explicitly said that the subjects were 16 or even 17 years old, it wouldn't change a single thing. The fallacy of your argument is you think a 16 year old isn't a "child", would you care to hire one to do pornography and when cops come knocking on your door you think you can argue your way out of that one?

Being topless IS child pornography if you're under 18. Just look up the numerous sexting cases where a girl is arrested for taking pictures of herself topless and getting charged with not one, but two very serious charges of "manufacturing child pornography" and the "possession of child pornography". If she sends it off to her boyfriend throw another on for "distribution of CP" while the BF is charged with just simple possession. We're talking about only being topless, or bra and panties. There is absolutely no reason to think that manga depicting the same, even if it's not for sexual purposes, is free and clear of those same problems.

Sorry if it seems like I'm fuming at you, but I'm just simply stating that when you're on that slippery slope it doesn't take much of a nudge to send you all the way down. I'm not into lolicon stuff at all, but I do enjoy reading gender-bender mangas and find them fascinating. However, my latest foray being Ichinensei ni Nacchattara really borders on lolicon, but is definitely not porn by any stretch of the imagination. But to some goddamn idiot like the judge in this case, based off of that one manga I would look like some raving pedo, which could not be any further from the truth.

Anyways, just to give you idea of what this guy was nailed on, it was having "obscene" manga. Obscene would be something that fails the Miller test, the biggest deal being that if it's material not "prurient" to the community is considered obscene and then becomes illegal. A clear example of that abuse would be a porn shop owner in New Orleans (I think) who was charged with selling obscene material even though all of his porn was legal. He only got off because his attorney was intelligent enough to show that a hotel nearby had patrons regularly access their adult channel. Now if his defense was as dumb as Handley's one, the guy would have lost and been in the exact same position as this guy. His entire store stock would have been permanently seized, he'd have to serve time in prison, and even possibly end up on the sex offender registry. So the gist of the law basically comes down to "you either think like us or we'll make you bend over and convince you otherwise."

The fact that Handley did not end up on the sex offender list meant that the judge absolutely did not think he was a threat to children. Handley was simply a tool in some twisted political game.