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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 3, 2024

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OK. First off, the girls are victims. It may not be worth putting any law enforcement effort into cracking down on teenaged boys making deepfake nudes for private consumption. For that matter it might set bad legal precedents. But the girls are victims; they aren't wanting to expose their naked bodies for these boys or they would presumably have done it. I have no doubt that these deepfake models are working off bikini pics but two wrongs don't make a right. These girls and their fathers have every right to feel angry about it.

The overt message that the NYT hits repeatedly in the piece is that the girls in question are victims and that the boys have committed a crime. It’s stated repeated, implicitly and explicitly, without any justification. At one point a police officer opines that the images are CSAM (child sexual abuse material). (By the way, never trust a police officer to tell you the law; it’s not their area of expertise.)

Under the literal letter of US law, it is a crime, though. It might not be technically constitutional, but it's a crime, and the legitimacy of the constitution probably doesn't extend to sexually explicit drawings of real minors as protected speech.

they aren't wanting to expose their naked bodies

The AI generated images are not their naked bodies.

Right — is imagining a girl naked victimizing her?

No, but again, imaging to oneself is very different than publishing/distributing.

Well, I argue no, but this is more controversial than I anticipated.