Ealasaid A Haas
January 29, 2001
Opinion Writing

Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case looking at the constitutionality of the laws against child pornography. The specific phrases in question prohibit images which "appear" to depict minors engaged in sexual activity. Government lawyers say the law is vital because it helps nail child pornographers. The coalition challenging the law points out that it prohibits computer-generated images which are not made using real children.

As detestable as child pornography is, the first amendment rights protecting freedom of expression are precious and must not be infringed upon where no harm is being done. Our children must be protected, but prohibiting material which does not do them harm is going too far.

The prosecutors argue that it will make their job too hard if they have to prove that a photograph used real children. This is a reasonable concern, but can we afford to trample the rights so strongly defended all these years just to make the FBI’s job easier?

No. We can’t.

The digital age presents numerous complications, and this is just one of them. Law enforcement agencies must grow and change with the times, and just as police departments are having to set aside officers for high tech and internet crimes, federal agencies are going to have to set officers aside to analyze these sorts of photos to find out whether or not children were actually used in their production.

The argument about whether or not pornography encourages or discourages the expression of the urges it gratifies is an old one, and has yet to be properly settled. Without conclusive proof that virtual child pornography endangers real children, though, we cannot allow the law to ignore the first amendment by prohibiting it.

The mere fact that something is distasteful does not justify its suppression, as countless court decisions have shown over the years. The first amendment is a vitally important part of American society, and must be upheld, even when the material being protected is so repugnant to the vast majority of people.