Pseudo-photograph

In the UK, the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 amended to Protection of Children Act 1978 so as to define the concept of a pseudo-photograph.

Section 7.- (7) 'Pseudo-photograph' means an image, whether made by computer-graphics or otherwise howsoever, which appears to be a photograph.

(8) If the impression conveyed by a pseudo-photograph is that the person shown is a child, the pseudo-photograph shall be treated for all purposes of this Act as showing a child and so shall a pseudo-photograph where the predominant impression conveyed is that the person shown is a child notwithstanding that some of the physical characteristics shown are those of an adult.

(9) References to an indecent pseudo-photograph include-

(a) a copy of an indecent pseudo-photograph; and

(b) data stored on a computer disc or by other electronic means which is capable of conversion into a pseudo-photograph.

The concept of pseudo-photographs was created to cover a perceived lacuna that was thought to make the law impotent in the case of an image that had been created by digital manipulation - for example, a photograph of an adult manipulated by computer techniques so as to have the face of a child or to have the appearance of a child by the manipulation of certain physical features (e.g. breasts, genitalia, etc) so as to make them smaller (Wasik & Taylor, 1995, Chap 5.9).

The 1978 Act (as amended) does not define how a pseudo-photograph is made. This is to avoid the Act being limited to covering only known forms of making images. In this way, as yet unthought of forms of image production are intended thus to be covered.

While the Protection of Children Act does not define how a pseudo-photograph IS made, it does tell us how it is NOT made: a pseudo-photograph is NOT taken.

It is a presumption of statutory interpretation that different words have different meanings and it was thought necessary to add the concept of pseudo-photography to the legislation. Since Parliament does nothing in vain, a pseudo-photograph is not photograph.

The Oxford Concise English Dictionary defines a photograph as 'a picture made by a camera, in which an image is focused onto film and then made visible and permanent by chemical treatment'.

Since this definition seems to exclude photographs taken using a digital camera, and the amendments to Protection of Children Act specifically include digital photographs in the definition of photographs, the definitions found in the New Penguin English Dictionary seem more appropriate: a photograph is 'a picture or likeness obtained by photography' where photography is 'the art or process of producing images on a sensitised surface, e.g. a film, by the action of radiant energy, esp light.'

Reference

Wasik, Martin; & Taylor, Richard (1995). Blackstone's Guide to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Blackstone Press. ISBN 1-85431-407-1.

See also bitmap graphics editor.