Many participants in fandom--whether creators or consumers of fan work--are in the rather uncomfortable position of wanting to obey the law while simultaneously not knowing how they could potentially be breaking it.  This is through no fault of theirs.  It just happens that the most common legal issues in fandom are also some of the fuzziest, legally: copyright and obscenity.  Whether it's the case-specific fair use doctrine or the subjective "community standards" Miller test for obscenity, it isn't surprising that a lot of fan fiction writers and fan artists spend time worrying about whether they're doing something that could get them into legal trouble.  But it's not as if they could get thrown in jail for any of it… or could they?

Two years ago, Iowa resident Christopher Hadley ordered some manga from Japan.  It was intercepted by a postal inspector, who determined that the content of the books was obscene, and applied for a search warrant.  Having no idea that his package had been searched, Hadley drove home from the post office after retrieving it, only to be greeted by police officers who seized his manga, comic book, and DVD collection, as well as his computers.  Based on only a small number of materials in the collection of over 1,200 publications, Hadley faces penalties for possessing obscene drawings, specifically the ones that allegedly involve minors in sexual situations.

Though child pornography laws were originally enacted to prevent child abuse or any other harm to children, reported links between the use of pornography and abuse have led to the additional banning of virtual child pornography (i.e. illustrations or computer-generated images depicting children in a pornographic manner that did not involve the participation of any actual children).  Though the Supreme Court struck down the first law to this effect (Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition), Congress has since passed a new law, the PROTECT Act that specifically prohibits obscene virtual child pornography.  This is the law under which Hadley is being prosecuted.

This is the law, in relevant part:

Sec. 1466A.  Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children
(a) IN GENERAL- Any person who, in a circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly produces, distributes, receives, or possesses with intent to distribute, a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that–
(1)(A) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
(B) is obscene; or
(2)(A) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; and
(B) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value;
or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 2252A(b)(1), including the penalties provided for cases involving a prior conviction.