Wyoming law already bans computer-generated child pornography images, according to the state Legislature’s analyst.
The legislative Joint Judiciary Committee met Tuesday in Casper to contemplate bolstering state law to curb distribution of deep-fake, or computer-generated, child pornography.
It’s a top concern for state law enforcement, Chris McDonald, commander of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce (ICAC), told the committee.
“Computer-generated imagery is actually in the forefront of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) investigation currently,” said McDonald. “I don’t know how many times I’ve read in the last month about computer-generated imagery. … The technology increases so dramatically, like day to day to day.”
It would be helpful to the department’s investigations to update Wyoming’s laws with the latest definition and obtain the latest research on such images, McDonald said.
The fakes are “virtually indistinguishable” from real scenes, he added.
Having learned of McDonald’s concern at an April meeting of the committee, lawmakers asked the Wyoming Legislative Service Office to look into the issue.
Brian Fuller, LSO analyst, told the committee Tuesday that Wyoming law already is broad enough to outlaw computer-generated child sex images.
The state’s legal definition for child pornography includes any visual depiction showing a child in a sex act, an image “adapted or modified” to depict a child in a sex act, and images showing sex acts involving an individual who is “virtually indistinguishable from a child.”
Committee Co-Chair Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said the committee would “take that one under advisement.”
Switching Up The Language
State authorities also proposed exchanging the term “child pornography” for “child sexual abuse material.”
Chambers said the change would reflect, “quite frankly, the world that Commander McDonald lives in and the terms that are used.”
McDonald isn’t the only person voicing difficulties with the term “child pornography.”
Fremont County District Court Judge Jason Conder during many child sex cases has said, “that’s not pornography. That’s a crime scene.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
