The UK Government is planning a crackdown on computer-generated images of child abuse, with anyone caught with such material facing up to three years in prison. Currently, the UK laws apparently only cover distributing this kind of material - not owning it.
Government minister Maria Eagle says the new law will be focused:
“These new proposals will help close a loophole that we believe paedophiles are using to create images of child sexual abuse… This is not about criminalising art or pornographic cartoons more generally, but about targeting obscene, and often very realistic, images of child sexual abuse which have no place in our society.”
Something that’s confusing me is the way this story reporting the government’s plans then brings Second Life into the picture, referring to recent investigations into the Wonderland zone’s simulated child abuse.
Would virtual worlds be covered by a new law focused on possessing computer-generated images and video? Better legal minds than mine would need to explain whether this would be the case - and how the police would gather evidence if so.
If you have any thoughts on this, do leave a comment.
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