Child Porn and Free Speech

A very common argument made by those favouring "reasonable" restrictions on free speech and supporting censorship is that it is needed to crack down on child porn. In fact child porn is the easiest counter-argument any pinhead puts forth.

Let us understand that cracking down on child porn is not censorship. In child porn, the rights of a child are being violated. So if child porn is being cracked down on, it is an exercise towards protecting the child's rights from being infringed. The crack down is not about protecting public morality or something. At least it should not be. So if someone writes a fantasy story with child porn in it, it should not be banned. But porn with kids' images should be.

It is no more censorship than cracking down on copyright violations is censorship. If you are clueless enough to think that Kaavya Vishwanathan's book was withdrawn due to "censorship", only then should you stupidly put forth the child porn example while arguing for censorship, even if in the rarest of rare case.

Because unless someone's rights are being violated, there is no valid excuse for restricting freedom of expression.