But Canada’s current law goes beyond pornography that causes harm to children. It also makes some works of the imagination – stories and drawings – illegal if they depict people under the age of 18 in sexual situations. Many classic works of art might meet that definition, and the law does allow for a defence on the grounds of artistic merit. This puts the courts in the bizarre position of determining what is a work of art. Citizens cannot hope to know in advance what the law really forbids, and whether the judge will share their opinion of what is art. Policing the way you express yourself on a piece of paper or on your laptop comes awfully close to policing your thoughts.
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/Crimes+imagination/5020809/story.html#ixzz1Qg5TanaR
Very happy to see this strongly-worded editorial condemning the arrest of a U.S. Citizen for travelling into Canada with comics and manga on his laptop. Kudos to the Ottawa Citizen for taking an important stand.
– Chris