A federal appeals court says it had no choice but to protect the in-home possession of AI-generated child pornography because of a 2002 Supreme Court ruling, even as judges warned that modern technology has blurred the legal lines drawn nearly 25 years ago.
\n\nThe Washington Post reports that the Seventh Circuit affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a child pornography possession charge against Steven Anderegg, a Wisconsin man who investigators said had hundreds of AI-generated sexually explicit images depicting children on devices seized from his home.
\n\nAnderegg faced four charges: producing and distributing the AI-generated child sexual abuse material, transferring it to a minor under 16, and possessing it. A federal district court dismissed only the possession charge on First Amendment grounds, leaving the other three charges intact. The Justice Department appealed that dismissal, arguing the government should be permitted to prohibit possession of obscene virtual child sexual abuse material even when no actual child was involved in its creation. The Seventh Circuit sided with the lower court.
\n\nThe ruling exposes a widening gap between Supreme Court precedent and rapidly advancing AI technology. The appeals court said it was bound by the 2002 decision in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/
