meganbmoore | (no subject)

Via

woodburner :

Handley, 38, faces penalties under the PROTECT Act (18 U.S.C. Section 1466A) for allegedly possessing manga that the government claims to be obscene. The government alleges that the material includes drawings that they claim appear to be depictions of minors engaging in sexual conduct. No photographic content is at issue in Handley's case.

"Handley's case is deeply troubling, because the government is prosecuting a private collector for possession of art," says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. "In the past, CBLDF has had to defend the First Amendment rights of retailers and artists, but never before have we experienced the Federal Government attempting to strip a citizen of his freedom because he owned comic books. We will bring our best resources to bear in aiding Mr. Handley's counsel as they defend his freedom and the First Amendment rights of every art-loving citizen in this country."

Mr. Handley's case began in May 2006 when he received an express mail package from Japan that contained seven Japanese comic books. That package was intercepted by the Postal Inspector, who applied for a search warrant after determining that the package contained cartoon images of objectionable content. Unaware that his materials were searched, Handley drove away from the post office and was followed by various law enforcement officers, who pulled him over and followed him to his home. Once there, agents from the Postal Inspector's office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, Special Agents from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and officers from the Glenwood Police Department seized Handley's collection of over 1,200 manga books or publications; and hundreds of DVDs, VHS tapes, laser disks; seven computers, and other documents. Though Handley's collection was comprised of hundreds of comics covering a wide spectrum of manga, the government is prosecuting images appearing in a small handful...

The rest of the article is here.

No words. Too busy hiding my manga.

Threaded | Flat

I just want to know, like, how obscene it is.

I mean, Celestial Legend Ceres has minors engaging in sex. Does genitalia have to be shown for people to freak out?

WHAT IF I DRAW 12-YEAR-OLD STICK PEOPLE DOING IT IN MY NOTEBOOK? WILL I GO TO PRISON?

It's pretty impressive that he owns over 1,200, though. Seven computers! How does that even happen?

I'm all kinds of jittery about this, simply because of the implications it could have. It seems like it ought to be hard for something to completely fail all three points of the Miller test, and yet...I really would not put it past someone so condemn it just on the basis of that "all those weird Japanese comics are full of child porn and tentacle rape" idea that still seems to be hanging around.

I wish there was more info about what exactly was so objectionable about the original manga. I've got an idea, but a little clarification would be nice. :|

Yes, this was on Neil Gaiman's blog - he's a big supporter of the CBLDF.

Are they gonna confiscate my Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service? My naughty Fumi Yoshinaga volumes? How about Gaiman's own American Gods, which has at least one scene of mystically weird smuttiness? Or maybe it's only visual pr0n? How about videos - the Mr. has a copy of Short Bus ... .

This is really scary!

Love Monster comes to mind...

Better hide the MeruPuri, too. Minors kissing - 15 & 6 year old!

District Judge Gritzner of the Southern District of Iowa found that subsections 1466(a)(2) and (b)(2) of 18 U.S.C. 1466A unconstitutional. Those sections make it a crime to knowingly produce, distribute, receive, or possess with intent to distribute, "a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting," that "is, or appears to be" a minor engaged in sexual conduct. Judge Gritzner found that those sections restrict protected speech and are constitutionally infirm.

Fuck, about time.

It's pretty worrisome. I mean, it may be that he really did have manga depicting children engaged in sex, either with each other or with adults.* God knows there's plenty of manga (especially doujinshi) like that. But there is also stuff like you described above, with teenagers having sex, and there's stuff where people may be over eighteen, but the style makes them look like minors.

*Though even if he did, I don't think that makes him a dangerous pedophile, and I personally don't believe someone should be prosecuted for owning manga like that anymore than I believe someone should be prosecuted as a dangerous pedophile for reading or writing fic about minors having sex.

...

Well, shit.

I want to think that most of my manga would be considered safe, but I JUST DON'T KNOW DDDDD8

It does worry me. I mean I really would like to know exactly how graphic the manga he had was. Some of my yaoi are pretty graphic and definitely consist of underage sex.

I had this argument with my friends lately about whether manga (specifically shotacon) and especially some of my Naruto doujinshi was simply fuelling pedophilia. An interesting comment came from the only other girl in the room, and the only one who doesn't watch anime or read manga. How can they be getting upset about a cartoon where no children are harmed in the making of it and still allow little girls to be paraded around in bikinis in "talent shows" or "beauty pagents".