Interesting Links for 06-06-2013

[andrewducker]

• The inadvertent child pornographer
  (tags: law uk photographs children nudity )
• Personality is the result of nurture, not nature (in birds)
  (tags: personality birds )
• Why Does the American Media Get Big Stories Wrong?
  (tags: media )
• Google Reader alternatives
  (tags: google googlereader rss )
• 10 things you might not know about India
  (tags: india )

Comments

[philmophlegm]

But the article reveals what I think is a cultural difference. Many people are like you three and see nothing wrong with being naked or letting small children be naked. Other people (and I'm one of them) would find being being naked or being around naked adults (with obvious exceptions) or children very uncomfortable. (I lock the bathroom door when I have a bath, even if I'm the only person in the house.)

People in the former group often don't seem to appreciate that not everyone thinks like they do. Similarly, people in the latter group often don't seem to appreciate that not everyone thinks like they do. And that's how you get situations arising like the one in the article. The innocent grandfather is clearly in the group of people who don't see anything wrong with child nakedness, and so it doesn't occur to him that there's anything weird about taking pictures of naked children. The computer repair guys and the policeman are clearly in the other group of people - and saw the pictures* and immediately thought "WTF, this guy's got photos of naked children on his PC!"

* Although doesn't this confirm your worst suspicions about PC repair guys**? I mean I wonder what computer fault requires an examination of the photographs in the My Pictures folder...

** Having said that, I used to work with a guy who before he was a chartered accountant managed a branch of PC World. He it was who phoned the police in similar circumstances when Gary Glitter brought his computer in for some maintenance.

[andrewducker]

Well, yes. I'd hope for some empathy. I wear clothes around other people because I don't want to make them feel uncomfortable. And I'd hope that people that felt uncomfortable around naked people would realise that this was their problem, not proof of abuse occurring.

Of course there's going to be a judgement call (Are there pictures of widely diverse children? Are they doing anything sexual? Etc.) And I can totally understand the PC Repair guy checking with the police if he thought the photos might be dodgy. But I'd expect the police expert to take one look, and either clear it, or have a ten second chat with the grandfather and _then_ clear it. Basically, I expect more from the police than from J Random Techie.

[philmophlegm]

Yes. It also concerns me that it was a long time before either lawyer actually looked at the photos. Wouldn't the CPS lawyer need to examine the evidence against the defendant?

[andrewducker]

Yup, not handing over evidence to a lawyer seems barkingly odd to me.

[danieldwilliam]

I’m with Andrew here. Empathy and appreciating that other people have a different point of view would seem important.

I’m more than happy to err on the side of caution. I think that’s a pretty good rule in general.

Being naked in my own space whilst on my own or with my wife or my infant children doesn’t bother me but *I* would feel awkward if there were people with whom I had less intimate relationship, partly because they would feel awkward. Also, because I’d feel awkward. I also recognise that other folk might feel awkward if I were naked around them. So I’m more than happy not to do that.

I notice that as my 15 year old daughter has gotten older she’s become much more private around her body and the bodies of other people. Which is her choice in any event and also seems perfectly reasonable to me. When she was yound she would come into bed with MLW and I in the morning and we were both naked. Now, she doesn’t. (I kinda miss it. The Captain won’t sit still long enough to come for a cuddle in the morning.)

If these people come in to my home then I’m delighted to put on my best clothes and we’ll all feel fine.

I’m less willing to accommodate them if they are walking past my ground floor bedroom and peer in through my window in to my private space. If folk look into my house uninvited and see me naked well Honi soit qui mal y pense.

I used to live with a guy who was a nudist and would wander around our shared house in the hardy buff. Too much I thought. Other folk don’t want to see your tackle, there’s a time and a place. I wasn’t personally offended but I was embarrased for others.

[ggreig]

When I was a baby/toddler, my parents didn't take any pictures of me naked, and insisted that relatives didn't either, on the grounds that the photos might embarrass me later (school age). While clearly there are differing opinions on this, and the case in the article should never have occurred, my parents' decision seems right to me, and respectful of what I might think or feel later at an age when I was too young to form or express my own opinion.