Re: Child Porn (was: Re: [freenet-chat] Thoughts about Freenet)

[Ian Clarke]

On Thu, Apr 19, 2001 at 01:37:48PM +1200, David McNab wrote:
> The subject of child porn on Freenet throws me personally into an
> interesting position
> On one hand, I passionately share the sentiments of totally supporting free
> expression.
> But on the other hand, my wife and I jointly operate a respected
> psychotherapy practice, and are responsible for training and evaluation of
> other practitioners.

This is interesting.  My most solid argument when kiddieporn is brought
up is "why should we all be deprived of freedom of speech just because a
few might abuse it?", however my actual feelings are stronger.  I have
seen no evidence that the wide availability of child pornography leads
to more abuse of children, and have even heard arguments that it can
reduce actual abuse by giving these people a relatively harmless outlet
for their desires.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this...

Ian.

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