BAN ON POSSESSION OF EXTREME PORNOGRAPHY LAW TAKES EFFECT 26 JAN 2009
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (CJIA) became law in May 2008.
This law makes it illegal to possess pornographic images which show an act which threatens a person’s life, an act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person’s
anus, breasts or genitals, an act which involves sexual interference with a human corpse, or a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive).
The section of the Act relating to extreme pornography takes effect from 26 January 2009.
You can download a leaflet explaining what the law says and how to protect yourself here.
One of the defences available is that the images depict the consensual activities of the owner of the image. However as many SM activities are currently illegal it is now vitally important that we get as much support as possible to change the law on consent and injuries sustained during sex.
A PDF of the relevant sections of the Act can be found here.
A PDF of the Ministry of Justice Information Sheet on this section of the CJIA can be downloaded here.
This sheet contains refence to a recent ruling (R v Porter) concerning what "possession" means in terms of Internet images. For the legally minded a copy of this judgment can be found here.