Manga collector sentenced to six months jail

[DemonGoddess]

Article here

[foeofthelance]

Article here

Ehhh... Its lolicon. I know, I know, censorship bad, art and words not the same things as pics and words, but still. It does require a certain attraction in the first place, unless it was part of a larger anthology. (That I have seen before. There are hentai anthologies posted with the regularness of Shonen Jump which incorporate just as varied stories.)

[Karategirl422]

Personally I think that is a bit over the top. From what I get from the article, the guy is a collector and that's it. They mentioned no past history of pedophile acts or acussations against him so he can't be labled as one. Even if his sentence is only 6 months and not the 15 years estimated at first, I think the Gov is blowing this one out of proportion. Even if under the Product Act, this isn't child porn, just stories and drawings created by an artist with no connection to actuall people. It's apprently legal in asia so how bad can the profanity of really be? But then again, to each there own and this what the America Gov veiws as porn I guess.

Its anyone opinion on what they consider porn, hell you could consider reading smut a form of if it if you wanted to. But based on the 'collector' lable, I think he doesn't consider it porn, just coo art and interesting stories. And maybe his age was what caused the pedophile lable to be thrown around.

I feel bad for him for having to sevre that sentence but it could've be worse. To bad his lawyer coudn't build a good defense since he was right to assume that the jury will make the call on how they feel about the images. As a Criminal Justice major, I can see how that would be hard to build a case to a jury of your peers when in reality these peers most likely have no prior knowledge of manga and what is considered 'normal content' in asia. Unfair on one end but that is why unbiased, fresh opinions are needed. Lotlia maybe considered taboo but if its just a drawing and not the actual act (consent may matter depedinging on opinion) then I don't see the big deal.

Wow didnt mean to babble the much but I guess my major and moderate knowlege fo manga made me want to share my opnion. No offense directed at anyone and feel free to share yours, I find this topic interesting and love sharing view points.

<3

~`~ Karategirl422 ~`~

[DemonGoddess]

It's why I posted the link. Because that's exactly what I saw. An overreaction to a COLLECTOR.

[Karategirl422]

It's why I posted the link. Because that's exactly what I saw. An overreaction to a COLLECTOR.

Thanks for posting it, I totally agree and feel the same way.

[foeofthelance]

It's why I posted the link. Because that's exactly what I saw. An overreaction to a COLLECTOR.

He was passing depictions of children having sex through the US post office. Collector or not, people tend to frown on that sort of thing. The fact he is a collector and not actually exclusive to the material is probably what persuaded the judge to give him the lighter end of the sentence.

Not for nothing, but if you have to break the law to fill out your collection, you're probably doing something wrong.

[DemonGoddess]

Or it simply indicates that collectors of foreign material, particularly manga type stuff, need to be more careful in how they get it delivered.

[Karategirl422]

Or it simply indicates that collectors of foreign material, particularly manga type stuff, need to be more careful in how they get it delivered.

I agree with that. I dont think he ment to do anything illegal, he just wasn't considering what that sort of content discovered in the mail could cause. He probably never thought it would be interecepted or even that it was that big of a deal since it's not what he considers porn.

[Animedevildog]

Just a couple things I wish to ponder... things that are sending up warning flags.

One thing I have to ask is WHY the mail was opened by customs officials in the first place? What reason did they have to tamper with a citizens private correspondance? Now, last I knew, law enforcement officials needed a warrent to open the mail of a citizen of the United States, unless it was clearly something that posed a clear and present danger to the security of the U.S. What kind of national security threat would a collector of manga be? I suspect that there is a lot to this story that has not been heard yet. Either somehow, the Feds have heard that he had been making purchases from a known dealer of contraband material (which they can watch for via the dealer's own records) or they have decided to randomly target collectors.

Another thing that bothers me. It seems that the scope of these laws is ever increasing. One thing that I noticed is that one of the citeria mentioned is "what the community would find offensive". By WHOM within the community are they going to make that judgement of what is and is not offensive? I do happen to know numerous people who would find the mild (by today's standards) publication Playboy, to be highly offensive. A lot of these same people would rate a high percentage of the stories within the archives offensive. And, you have to admit, a certain percentage could fall under the scope of some of these laws coming out.

What will all of this mean for us? And, more importantly, what will it mean for the 1st Admendment rights of everyone in this country? We now stand upon the threshold of a dangerously slippery slope. A slopw which has a lot of sharp daggers waiting for us at the bottom. I for one pray that reason prevails, but I am fearful that it may not.

[sumeragichan]

Just a couple things I wish to ponder... things that are sending up warning flags.

One thing I have to ask is WHY the mail was opened by customs officials in the first place? What reason did they have to tamper with a citizens private correspondance? Now, last I knew, law enforcement officials needed a warrent to open the mail of a citizen of the United States, unless it was clearly something that posed a clear and present danger to the security of the U.S. What kind of national security threat would a collector of manga be? I suspect that there is a lot to this story that has not been heard yet. Either somehow, the Feds have heard that he had been making purchases from a known dealer of contraband material (which they can watch for via the dealer's own records) or they have decided to randomly target collectors.

Another thing that bothers me. It seems that the scope of these laws is ever increasing. One thing that I noticed is that one of the citeria mentioned is "what the community would find offensive". By WHOM within the community are they going to make that judgement of what is and is not offensive? I do happen to know numerous people who would find the mild (by today's standards) publication Playboy, to be highly offensive. A lot of these same people would rate a high percentage of the stories within the archives offensive. And, you have to admit, a certain percentage could fall under the scope of some of these laws coming out.

What will all of this mean for us? And, more importantly, what will it mean for the 1st Admendment rights of everyone in this country? We now stand upon the threshold of a dangerously slippery slope. A slopw which has a lot of sharp daggers waiting for us at the bottom. I for one pray that reason prevails, but I am fearful that it may not.

Thank you! I agree with these points utterly. Why did they open his mail up indeed....

[kagome26isawsome]

its just so wrong! *sigh* soon they might ban manga and all the good stuff from Japan here! It was just drawings and he just wasnt collecting one thing, he collected all he could get his hands on. i hope he gets set free. this is stupid!