The Supreme Court is considering a case today that will likely decide the fate of yet another law aimed at controlling child pornography. The specifics of the case are related to an esoteric aspect of the law — they are trying to determine what is meant by pandering — but it got me thinking about the most difficult problem surrounding this issue: defining what exactly child pornography is.

While it may seem like the distinction between adult pornography and child pornography should be easily defined, in practice, it’s actually very difficult. The individuals engaged in creating this gruesome stuff are expert at walking very thin lines and skirting attempts at legal definitions.

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