You see, I think the question of whether a picture was of "harmful" cp or not is a totally irrelevant argument.

My point is a philosophical one, where the content of the picture is not the point.

I feel that the mere possession of ANY image, provided it wasn't paid for, traded or requested by the possessor, should not be a criminal offense.

It is a simple concept, and any debates about what the picture depicts, and what harm came to any of the participants WHEN IT WAS ORIGINALLY TAKEN is not of any relevance to anyone who subsequently obtains a copy of that picture (assuming it wasn't paid for, traded or requested).

Let's take a hypothetical example.

A concentration camp guard in Nazi Germany takes a series of pictures of one of his colleagues shooting prisoners in the head.

That is a picture of a "crime scene". It is a picture of abuse of the worst kind.

A million people download these images for free. Are these people just as guilty as the person who shot the prisoners?

Of course not!

What if some of these million people like to masturbate to these images, are they guilty of a crime?

Of course not!

The ONLY reason society twists logic in the case of cp is that THEY cannot comprehend how any sane person could be turned on by such material. They hide behind such lame excuses as "it legitimises the act of abuse", or "pedophiles show this material to children to desensitise them" and so on - these are all straw-clutching justifications for punishing thought crime.