Popular Photography & Imaging

[JohnRushing]

Does anyone subscribe to this magazine? I just got my June issue and was flipping through it and came across an article titled "How A Photo Can Ruin Your Life". It talks about how the government is askig computor repair shops and photo labs to report any photos of nude children or any that they think is questionable and how some inocent people are having their whole life ruined by thses photos. They give one example of a 65 year old grandmother being arrested for taking some photos of her grand daughter dancing around naked, they were 8 and 3 years old at the time. The photo was an inocnet snap shot but it ended up costing the lady over $30,000 in the end. She was a well known photographer, Marian Rubin, who says it has changed how she sees things now. You can even get introuble for taking a snap shot of you 2 or 3 yearold in the bath tub! I know theres a huge problem with child pornography but it sounds like the government and law is getting to deep into peoples personal lives and destroying some peoples lives just because they want to have something to remember their childs young years. Can you imagine taking a photo of your 2 yearold taking a bath and within a few days some police show up at your door to arrest you. You end having to pay the high cost of a lawyer and going to court only to be labeled a sex offender and maybe even loosing your child! All because you did something people have done since cameras first entered the home. Everyones parents have embarising photos of them in the bath tub when they were little. Something needs to be done to get the real sex offenders off the street but punishing the inocent is just plan wrong! Even if a person beats the charges they will still be labeled as a sex offender by the community, something like that spreads and it never dies down even when your proven not to be one. I'm sure glad my kids are old enough that we would never take that type of photo of them. We have some from years ago, thank goodness they were with on of those old polaroid instant cameras.

[Clint_Smith]

John I think the moral of the story is, if you computer is screwy, don't take it in to the "geek squad" no telling how much personal info is ripped off at computer repair places.

But something has to be done about child porn. but prosecuting grandmothers isn't the answer.

[Digital Prophet]

I have lots to say about this. But I won't.

But I can clearly see this thread being ... moderated.

Prophet out.

[gardener]

I read that article too and it's unfortunate that it has come down to this aspect. The detective's comments were somewhat reassuring though in that he says he KNOWS the difference between what are common kiddo shots versus kiddie porn even though he's still bound to investigate the occurances as they're assigned to him.
A few nuts make the world difficult for the rest of us no matter the offense...

[Cope]

Originally Posted by gardener

I read that article too and it's unfortunate that it has come down to this aspect. The detective's comments were somewhat reassuring though in that he says he KNOWS the difference between what are common kiddo shots versus kiddie porn even though he's still bound to investigate the occurances as they're assigned to him.
A few nuts make the world difficult for the rest of us no matter the offense...

This detective knows, but unfortunately the next one may not

A lady I used to work with took a picture of her 2-3 year old daughter who got out of the bath tub on her own and was covered with bubbles. Walgreens called her about the picture, and IIRC, they refused to give it to her. This happened 7 years ago in a suburb of Houston.

This is a lot like Homeland Security, the innocent are affected just like the guilty. Another sign of the times.

[suzyjazz]

Yeah, I read that too. It's pretty crazy. Note to self, if I have kids and want to take a few photos like that, those are the ones I will print at home!

[Allen]

When my son was a few months old my wife took a photo or two of my son in our bathroom sink while my mother in law bathed him. The shots showed everything. When I uploaded the photos to my computer I deleted them soon afterwards just because of this very topic. I told my wife it doesn't take much to get in trouble these days with this kind of thing.

[akimartymar]

Have you ever seen any of Sally Mann's work? It could totally be taken as child pornography, yet it is sold at bookstores across the country. She has a lot of photos of her naked children that are truly beautiful pieces of art, but I'm sure not everyone views them that way.

[JohnRushing]

I just couldn't believe how many people are getting in trouble, deep trouble, for inocent phots of their kids. I agree that child pornography is out of control and something needs to be done about and maybe the answer is for parents to buy home printers an print their own photos. Even taking them to the photo labs isn't safe. Someone working there could make copies and the next thing you know your kid is on a porno site. i don't know what the answer is but when you start thinking about how easily it would be to have your whole life screwed up just because you took a picture of your two year old playing in the bath tub it's sad. I know the government is trying to get this under control but if you get the wrong judge you are marked for life for a serious crime that you didn't do. I would would sugest to anyone who asked me, buy a printer.

Oh and the dad in that article? I don't know about him. He could have been doing that in an inocent way but posing the girls and them being nude is a little creepy to me. I might be a prude or a wierdo but i wouldn't even bath my daughter, it just made me feel uneasy. My son was a different story. I just took him out i n the back yard and hosed him off!!!