Can I just say, Ive meat some of these people, and they are NOT sick, they are simply evil... no I'm not a God botherer, but when you have had honset conversation as I have (don't ask) with people like this, it becomes obvious that they weren't in the original plan.

OK...I''ve read all 30 odd posts about the "pedo" search on LW/FW, etc...all I can say is take it easy.

Pedophilia is difficult to understand, and abhorrent to most people in the world (jokes about Greek families nonwithstanding). But, as with all true "addictions", this is a case where the brain, etc., has taken over from concious choice. These people are truly not in control of their conciousness. And rather than vilifying them (because villification will only make them harder to find), we should be (a) neutralizing their efforts, by vigilantly pursuing those who try to promulgate their stuff on P2P networks, and (b) isolating them in controlled environments so we can begin to understand just what could make some people want to do this.

Also, this whole subject of underage sex is a very slippery topic (no pun intended). Sure, it's easy to single out the perv next door who's taking digital snaps of your 5-year-old daughter's privates in the bathroom, but what about the art photographer taking sensitive nudes? What about the traditional naked baby on the rug shots? And what about teenage sex? If I have a 17-year-old son having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend, does/should that sex become illegal when he turns 18? (I don't think so, but I'm f*c*ing POSITIVE that some jerk is gonna reply to me, quoting god and megadeath that such acts are REPREHENSIBLE to the REAL god.) And what about the age of consent? In IL it's 18; in other states it's 16; in the Netherlands it's 14. Who's right?

I urge you to keep up the good fight to keep kid porn off P2P networks. And I also urge you to have compassion for the people who are controlled by their desires for such stuff. And don't give me that free-will BS...people who desire this stuff DON'T have a free will anymore. I'll take that to the bank.

Kudos to Mike for the above post. Not only was it well said, but well thought out to boot.

I agree that pedophiles do not have a "choice" in the matter. What is true in most cases is that these people have been sexually abused as children. The massive phsychological damage that results from these experiences very often evolves into a taste for pornography involving children, which in its own twisted way perpetuates the results of the abuse. Those pedophiles that act on their impulses and abuse children then cause those children to become pedophiles, and on and on.

While I'm by no means defending pedophilia or child pornography, I think it's important to keep things like this in mind. Yes, it most definitely is sick, but in a way it's also sad.

In reference to "taking it easy," all I can say is that a large number of people that use LW to download legit porn have, at least once, come across something questionable with regard to age. Some examples I've seen are clearly NOT of age, and some are close enough to legal to give one pause. Regardless, most people the come across the stuff freak out, thinking that in five minutes the FBI will be knocking at their door. The worst part about is that there does not seem to be much good information out there about what should be done when this happens. Another problem is that a lot of porn now is of the homemade (or "amateur") variety, and the age of these people, regardless of what the filename may say, is very likely impossible to verify (for either us or the authorities). What about that stuff? Should a file claiming that it's of somebody 17 years old be taken literally? When does prudence give way to paranoia?