[Truebador]

It has happened. "Thought-crime" has become a reality. Some of these perverts were busted for owning and sending this pornography. But others appear to have been guilty only of viewing it and thinking lustful thoughts. Not excusing child porno -- it's disgusting and depraved -- but to be punished simply for LOOKING at something that people invite you to look at does not seem criminal to me. It is thought-crime, not real crime. Real crime is making the porno and distributing it. But here, it is sometimes what the suspect is "thinking" that he is being arrested for.

Child porno is double-plus ungood.

But so is a society that seeks out and punishes thought-crime.

[DB]

Really?

Those kids were victims. Every person that looks at the product of these crimes on purpose is further victimizing the children. You have heard of "supply and demand" haven't you? Without that demand would there be as many victims?

As far as "thoughts" go, there were more than thoughts in action here. These people actively researched, pursued, exchanged and some created these items. Simply accidentally landing on a site with child porn does not make you part of the problem. Digging for it, creating a demand for it is.

And lastly, where in this article did you glean that any of these people were simply passive observers? How do you know that all arrested or about to be arrested didn't actually exchange and store these items themselves?

[DB]

Also, your Email address doesn't show up on these sites by simply "watching". You have to provide it for the purpose of furthering participating in the going on's there. To get that far isn't passive "thought" involvement. Those that did simply watched were not traceable or for that matter even prosecutable.

[xm177e2]

This isn't an issue of "thoughtcrime!" It's an issue of whether or not someone has child pornography in their computer's hard drive (and the internet cache doesn't count, there has to be intent to posses it). That's an objective standard. I assume being on that email list meant the people had illegal pornographic images sent to them, which they then downloaded and archived on their computers. It's an open and shut case, it doesn't even violate peoples' "right" to purposely look up child pornography on the web. "Thoughtcrime?" I don't think so.

[Texaggie79]

I partly agree with you. I think simply imprisoning these people and labeling them monsters is counter-productive. I think people found guilty of only viewing and not the actual production should be put into mandatory treatment. Sticking them in a jail cell does not address their mental illness. And unless you plan to keep them in there forever, it helps nothing.

[Calico Cat]

Not so, Truebador. What these people are guilty of is knowing that a CRIME (child sexual abuse) has been committed, having the evidence in their possession and not contacting law enforcement. That's not thought control; that's criminal conduct.

[GeronL]

When I accidently find the disgusting stuff, I report it!

[lonestar]

Members of "Candyman" in Houston alone have admitted to molesting 36 children. That isn't "thought" crime.

I think that any adult who gets their "kicks" looking at naked kids or abusing kids are the sickest of the sickos.

[Leto]

If someone sends this stuf and you view it you then have an obligation to tell the authorities. Then they can bust the criminals producing and distributing. If you download this stuff onto your computer, and don't erase or inform the authorities about the source so it can be dealt with, you are providing a market for this flith.