Photo: Jurian Kersten/Unsplash
TLDR: The naked baby on Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover is now a 30-year-old man. He claims that the image is child pornography and constitutes sexual exploitation of a child.
His specific points of contention are that his parents never authorised the use of the image, he never received any payment for it and his genitals were not covered in the photo even though they were supposed to be.
He has sued the band and other people involved in creating the album for compensation.
More thoughts: This case provides food for thought, not only for parents who unthinkingly put their children’s pictures up on social media, but also for those very children who may eventually find embarrassing photos of themselves online.
In Singapore, it is a criminal offence under sections 377BG to 377BK of the Penal Code to produce, distribute, advertise, possess or involve a child in “child abuse material”. “Child abuse material” can include a depiction of the breasts, genital or anal region of a person below 16 years of age that may appear offensive.
It therefore seems that pictures of naked children may not be considered as criminal child pornography if they are not offensive to reasonable people.
Note that the Nirvana case is a civil lawsuit instead of a criminal case. Unlike in a criminal case, the action is not taken by the government against an offender and there would be no criminal penalties like imprisonment. Instead, the claimant here sues the defendants in his own name in an attempt to receive monetary damages for whatever hurt or loss that he has suffered.