This will test the concept of law in the USA where schoolkids are being charged with child porn charges for "sexting" a snap of themselves to friends or even just their boy/girlfriend.

Perez has posted a pic of an actress age 17 supposedly showing her panty-less geting out of a car. Some reports suggest the photo may have been doctored but that is still a crime under child porn laws.

Even worse for Perez he 'twittered" the photo to tens of thousands !

I wish no harm on Perez although I met him 3 years ago in Sydney for the MTV awards..didn't really like him but that could have been because I was with a group of photographers whose images he kept purloining for his website. Since then he has become so popular and to advertise on his site costs a fortune.

My main complaint is that he never breaks a story..he's no different from The Sun or the Daily Mirror but good luck to him.
It will be fascinating to see how authorities deal with this...and it rakes up again the fact that News Ltd made a fortune out of Page 3 under-age topless pics...which Murdoch at first objected to (he claims to be a conservative moralist) but changed his mind when he saw how many papers it help flog.

Technically child porn..but then in Europe so are the pictures and videos of Miley dancing provocatively on stage - all of which are shown on MTV and published by hundreds of blogs and newspapers - even the Daily Mail.

there is no such thing as "technically child porn"..they pic either is or it isn't but my reading of the law is that Perez has committed an offense in that whether the picture is real or doctored it is still classed as child pornography...and it is a picture that is sexually provocative of a child below the age of 18 and the law in the USA is very precise on that whether she is clothed or not.

Even worse he has published it and distributed it...I will predict now-Perez is going to be in real trouble with the law and it is just a matter of time before he is charged. The photographer or agency that sold the pic..anyone in Perez's office who handled it...is in trouble.

This case is going to blow up into something very big and demonstrates the utter hypocrisy and the bizarre attitudes in the USA (and sweeping the rest of the world)...where corporations use children in provocative and sexual ways every day until the general public has no idea anymore where the boundaries are.

Perez must be sh**ting himself at this moment.

I agree wholeheartedly veritas.

The pics and videos of Miley Cryus poledancing that have probably been viewed by 90% of the population of Europe ARE child porn. In fact, her latest pop video is clearly child porn (under EU law).

The authorities have total power of discretion (it appears) as to who they come for.

It's not just a thought crime in that nobody is harmed, it's a thought crime because the police are choosing who to arrest on the basis of what they think is going on in the viewer's head.

And this is clearly a manifest breech of the European charter of human rights (right to a private life).

This is an example the problems that occur when the law tries to legislate on morality and impose restrictions on activities that cross moral boundaries but do not create victims.
Other examples (in the UK)of criminal activity where there is no direct victim...
Supplying drugs.
Soliciting (for a prostitute)
The question in my mind is should government involve itself with morality or should criminal exist for the protection of victims only and not seek to create a more 'moral' society?

I believe politicians for the last few decades have replaced good governance with a sort of moral governance and manipulation of people in their daily lives.

Instead of controlling corporations..BP, the financial meltdown etc,they have introduced thousands of new laws that impact up us every time we step outside the door...and probably soon in our homes.

Perez will probably escape prosecution..although he has given odd reason and taken the pic down (can't be too sure of his position by doing that) and I believe he is finished..time and loss of advertisers will kill him off.

We all want to protect children, I hope, but a child's sexuality goes from being seen as harmless fun to immoral, depraved and perverse!. we have it both ways..Miley is a perfect example of the total contradictions.

I don't know the answer.

(BR does..it's the New World Order ! )