Simpsons-style cartoon is child porn

AN internet cartoon showing characters modelled on Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson engaging in sex acts is child pornography, an Australian judge has ruled in a landmark case.

In February, at Sydney’s Parramatta Local Court, Alan John McEwan was convicted of possessing child pornography and using his computer to access such material. He was fined $3,000 (about €1,540) and required to enter a two-year good behaviour bond in relation to each offence.

McEwan appealed against the conviction, but it was dismissed in the New South Wales Supreme Court yesterday, with Justice Michael Adams concluding a fictional cartoon character is a “person” within the meaning of Commonwealth and New South Wales laws.