Counterpoint: the law is not absolute and is actually riddled with holes so big you can fit entire conventions inside.
Great example: read into what came out of the zoosadist leaks. Kero and crew should certainly be distanced from fandom to the greatest extent possible. There's been 2 arrests. What's in the way of more?
- the info was leaked from inside abuser networks by people seeking to cast out token bad apples to preserve their own secrecy, when faced with expanding liability tied to several criminal cases that threatened more of their friends.
- it was done by leaking to twitter, intentionally avoiding going to cops, contaminating the chain of custody for legal purposes. We know what went on but now that may not be enough to satisfy the high bar of legal proof (court truth is not the same as real truth)
- then there's statutory limitations. A year or 2 passes and suddenly abuse isn't actionable.
- the stuff exposed was done by cold, calculating evaders. Encryption, secret chat with self-destruct, sockpuppets, using proxies to do grooming on kids to act like a molester tag-team and diffuse the liability of actually touching them, videos without faces even though we have location, clothing and way too many points of verification to not be ID'd with certainty.
- we can possess evidence and the ring itself existed because last century's laws weren't made to envision a network of people who get off on raping and murdering pets. If such videos were as illegal as CP that would be a different story.
- local police lack resources for cybercrime. FBI has a high bar for what they care about - terrorism yes, pet murder not so much. They investigate but have less power than a cop on the street to arrest anyone without a warrant signed by a federal judge. This is how we get a big gap in enforcement.
This isn't rumor and the weight of evidence is so much it could take years to scan it all. Flippant bullshit complaints about "witch hunting" are worthless when the witches are right there looking at you. Turning your back on it is indefensible. Cons certainly can take all this into account when deciding who to extend hospitality and a platform to.
Counterpoint: the law is not absolute and is actually riddled with holes so big you can fit entire conventions inside.
Great example: read into what came out of the zoosadist leaks. Kero and crew should certainly be distanced from fandom to the greatest extent possible. There's been 2 arrests. What's in the way of more?
- the info was leaked from inside abuser networks by people seeking to cast out token bad apples to preserve their own secrecy, when faced with expanding liability tied to several criminal cases that threatened more of their friends.
- it was done by leaking to twitter, intentionally avoiding going to cops, contaminating the chain of custody for legal purposes. We know what went on but now that may not be enough to satisfy the high bar of legal proof (court truth is not the same as real truth)
- then there's statutory limitations. A year or 2 passes and suddenly abuse isn't actionable.
- the stuff exposed was done by cold, calculating evaders. Encryption, secret chat with self-destruct, sockpuppets, using proxies to do grooming on kids to act like a molester tag-team and diffuse the liability of actually touching them, videos without faces even though we have location, clothing and way too many points of verification to not be ID'd with certainty.
- we can possess evidence and the ring itself existed because last century's laws weren't made to envision a network of people who get off on raping and murdering pets. If such videos were as illegal as CP that would be a different story.
- local police lack resources for cybercrime. FBI has a high bar for what they care about - terrorism yes, pet murder not so much. They investigate but have less power than a cop on the street to arrest anyone without a warrant signed by a federal judge. This is how we get a big gap in enforcement.
This isn't rumor and the weight of evidence is so much it could take years to scan it all. Flippant bullshit complaints about "witch hunting" are worthless when the witches are right there looking at you. Turning your back on it is indefensible. Cons certainly can take all this into account when deciding who to extend hospitality and a platform to.