UK MP: Ban written accounts of child abuse

hugstoall:

So Convervative MP Sir Paul Beresford wants to outlaw the mere possesssion of any written account of child sexual abuse:

“Some offenders not only possess and distribute and produce photographs, they possess graphic notes or writings of child abuse,” he said.

“This written material fuels the fantasies of paedophiles which is the key factor in their offending behaviour,” he added.

“Therefore I believe that we crack down on any form of indecent material in the written form so that real children can be safe from abuse.”

Because obviously, former victims of abuse will be so much better off if they are prohibited from sharing their story or reading those of others in a similar position.

This law would make me a criminal for listening to the account of a close friend who was raped as a child. If said friend was resident in the UK, it would make them a criminal for daring to speak up about the horrors they experienced, instead of pretending they didn’t exist.

If this passes, looks like I’ll have to stop using tumblr.

Uh, this is a major problem. New Zealand’s indecent content laws are already terrifying enough for me (guys, keep any stuff, visual or textual, you save on your hard drive that’s not totally vanilla encrypted - I recommend TrueCrypt), but what the fuck?