It's been a little while since we had some censorship news, and this time it's on the Alaskan front, which, according to Fallout 3, is due to be invaded by the Chinese sometime soon.

That said, America's defenders seem firmly concentrated on the Japanese threat, with Anchorage district prosecutor Aaron Sperbeck pushing for an expansion of child pornography laws to include "virtual child pornography," citing anime among other works. Such works are already outlawed at the Federal level in the US, as part of the the so-called "Amber Alert" legislation package.

Alaska Assistant  US Attorney Audrey Renschen had this to say:

"When you talk about anime, even though a real child wasn't used, it still sexualizes the child. And cartoons are naturally conducive to attracting a child."

While she does have a point (and did add that she has yet to charge anyone for possessing anime images), the core of the issue here, as has been the case for violence in videogames, is the assumption that all anime (and videogames) are "just for kids." Until that gets cleared up, things like this will come up time and time again.