This idea raises an interesting question - what if all child porn in the future was artificially generated. Would it be illegal to consume or share that material?
Probably. Child porn is illegal today because consumption incentivizes production of even more material. If you could somehow guarantee that production would only come from artificial sources then there would be no reason for it to be illegal, but making that guarantee in the real world is unrealistic. Once you create demand for artificial content then someone is going to try and slip the real thing in, bringing us back to square one. Artificial depictions of child porn are already illegal in many jurisdictions for that reason.
"Once you create demand for artificial content then someone is going to try and slip the real thing in, bringing us back to square one."
That is a slippery slope fallacy. Would you apply the same logic to legal pornography and say, "Well the actors are just too young, someone is going to try and slip in underage actors?" Or to non-visual descriptions e.g. Nobakov? At what point do you think the line should not be expanded?
"Artificial depictions of child porn are already illegal in many jurisdictions for that reason."
I think the reason is a lot less rational. In the 80s and 90s we had a widespread moral panic about child molesters that results in thousands of innocent people being thrown in jail. We still see remnants of that panic. I think we have shifted from a rational motivation for protecting children to a moral motivation to jail pedophiles. People do not want to have pedophiles in their communities and if a pedophile is able to avoid breaking the law people demand a broadening of the law. The idea that a pedophile could avoid prosecution by satisfying himself with cartoons instead of recordings of child abuse led to the law being broadened to ensure that the pedophile is punished.
While consumption may incentivize production, reducing supply does not affect demand.
Why would you assume that people slipping the "real thing" would be a problem? We watch violent movies for entertainment, and some will enjoy /r/WatchPeopleDie, but the latter will always be niche, and intentional production of such clips is still illegal. I do not see the benefit of outlawing artificial depictions.
> Child porn is illegal today because consumption incentivizes production of even more material.
Does it? Does that happen with other kinds of not-paid-for porn? More importantly, shoving the entire thing underground has got to make it harder to find the abusers creating these images. Which effect has a bigger impact?
I think I read in the 90s that made-up child porn (such as drawings from imagination) had recently become illegal in the U.S. It doesn't seem like that could've survived a first-amendment challenge, but IANAL and I don't know what's the status now.
Yes, it is controversial, as the original reasoning for banning child abuse imagery was to protect the children who are harmed by its production. This is the result of a shift in thinking: while the original idea was that we should protect children, today it is a matter of morality and pedophiles are considered morally deficient. As a result, even if a pedophile has never harmed a child, the common notion is that they are a danger to the community and that we can never be too careful.
"Visual depictions include photographs, videos, digital or computer generated images indistinguishable from an actual minor, and images created, adapted, or modified, but appear to depict an identifiable, actual minor. "
I am glad there are laws like that. Unfortunately, the hardware and software keeps improving. That means that someday a person sitting at home will be able to produce all the realistic child porn they want, and the police will have no way to detect it.
Even more interesting: would it be moral. It seems to me like it would be great if police wouldn't have to feed them, but they wouldn't even have to rape children to feed themselves.
