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NEWS: CBLDF Streams Documentary Short About Ryan Matheson Case

I helped the CBLDF with this case.

revolutionotaku wrote:

I helped the CBLDF with this case.

If helped Ryan in this case, then props to you man. I could feel how traumatized Ryan was just by watching him talk.

Personally, I wouldn't walk around with a computer full of anime pornography just to prevent myself from getting embarrased, but throwing him in jail and throwing out those harmless anime products was just something.

The one thing I was surprised about was the mentioning of how security guards at the boarder were actually trained in "recognizing anime pornography". Didn't think that anime was that significant to warrant its own search category.

Well, it's better to be an informed traveler and check what the host country allows in before leaving your country and plan accordingly. Canada doesn't allow a lot stuff in that you'd think would go thru customs and they state it on their website.

hikaru004 wrote:

Well, it's better to be an informed traveler and check what the host country allows in before leaving your country and plan accordingly. Canada doesn't allow a lot stuff in that you'd think would go thru customs and they state it on their website.

There's not even a hint on that website that the material Matheson brought in would be problematic. A four hour search on his laptop? That's a fishing expedition.

Yes, there is. Look in the "prohibited goods section".

No, it's not a fishing expedition.

hikaru004 wrote:

Yes, there is. Look in the "prohibited goods section".

What you don’t seem to understand is that the material Matheson brought it wasn’t child pornography. I’m just wondering how “The 48 Positions: Moe Style” is considered child pornography under Canadian law. Would agree with the customs officers that it depicted four year olds having sex? Plus “obscene material”, how broad is that description? It's really unclear.

hikaru004 wrote:

No, it's not a fishing expedition.

When you’re a customs officer searching a laptop for four hours for child porn based off nothing more than the fact the guy an anime wallpaper on his screen, well what else can you call that except a fishing expedition?

If you're familiar with this, then you leave the questionable stuff at home. If you are suspecting that "moe style" might confuse the officer into thinking that it's little kids, then leave it home.

If it confuses the officer, imagine what it could do to a kid that's being "groomed" to do this stuff.

Being very thorough for someone who probably wasn't specializing in IT as well as law enforcement. Maybe if something worse was on the computer, he would have been shipped to a more secure location than where he eventually landed.

hikaru004 wrote:

If you're familiar with this, then you leave the questionable stuff at home. If you are suspecting that "moe style" might confuse the officer into thinking that it's little kids, then leave it home.

The problem is (which you seem to be ignoring) is that Canadian Customs guidelines and the relevant legislation is at best unclear. Remember in the video that officers threw away his Megami magazine and what seemed to be described as a cloth of some kind with characters from “A Certain Magical Index” on it. While I admit that certain images in Megami magazine are risqué, there is no way in hell either fall into the category of child porn, no matter how broad the definition. The whole point is there is NOTHING on the Canadian Customs website that clearly shows the material he took into the country would cause him to be arrested.

hikaru004 wrote:

If it confuses the officer, imagine what it could do to a kid that's being "groomed" to do this stuff.

Um, so now we’re in the realm of imaginary crimes? Name a case, any case, where a paedophile has groomed a child using similar material that Matheson had. What, there’s none? Let’s stay firmly grounded in reality then.

hikaru004 wrote:

Being very thorough for someone who probably wasn't specializing in IT as well as law enforcement. Maybe if something worse was on the computer, he would have been shipped to a more secure location than where he eventually landed.

It’s got nothing to do wether the officer had sufficient IT skills or not. The problem is profiling passengers as potential paedophiles based upon the fact that they have anime/manga merchandise on their person or imagery on their laptop. The problem is that customs officers are apparently being trained to target people with that material. It is a fishing expedition.

We can agree to disagree because we view the website differently. I see a website that uses the "obscene" and "child pornography" in the same sentence.

And that Index pic emphasized more the chest on the second girl so that officer would have had an issue with that cloth.

With all the warnings that CBLDF has been giving regarding manga etc in other countries and with issues that people had in this one, a little extra precaution is suppose to be taken.

If you know that you are going to be spending extra time being searched because something peaks the interest of border control, you don't bring it to that country. It's the law of averages that border control will find something to hang you on the longer you're searched.