What a fuck total douchebags. The authorities, that is, not the parents. While the alleged crime was victimless, the response was not. So infuriating.

The police and prosecutors had eight photos out of one hundred forty-four that could possibly be considered pornographic. That tells me that these aren't. It's common sense. But of course common sense isn't common.

This is insane. If I had a nickel for every naked picture my parents and I have of our kids, we'd be rich. Twenty years ago, this would have been a non-issue. EVERYBODY has/had naked pictures of their kids - in the tub, the backyard kiddie pool, hell, one of our neighbors used to put one of her little boys on a tether in the back yard with no pants on so he could relieve himself when he wanted. This was only in the summertime, though, and she put a long t-shirt on him, but still. Today, something like that would get her locked up and the kids taken away. I must echo Jim P., but I've said this way more than once on here: Common sense ain't so common anymore.

Did Wal-Mart even bother to fire the employees involved, because this is really starting to look bad for them. (And perhaps it should.)

I love how the authorities are supposed to be in it all for "the best interests of the children", and then take impressionable, vulnerable children away from innocent parents. Never mind the trauma THEY cause, it's all good! We have an excuse! We are the experts! We know better than you! It seems a common battle cry for most regulatory bodies.

You know what I find really outrageous? The lack of outrage.

With the exception of the single ABC report that Amy links to, none of the American MSM has covered this story. It is on various blogs and niche sites, but the only major coverage it has received has been outside the USA ("Daily Mail" is a British newspaper, for example).

Apparently the mainstream press in the USA think it is ok for CPS to take people's children away. In fact, the CPS case workers in this case should be in jail for kidnapping. Of course, the government is unwilling to prosecute it's own.

I'm pretty sure Wal-Mart won't fire the employee, because they were reporting possible "Child Porn" to the authorities, which they are generally required to do by both company policy and most state and municipal laws.

I better hide/destroy all my kidding porn! I just took pictures of my grandsons yesterday in the tub. Not to mention, I have pictures of all of my daughters in the tub, in the pool, running around on the patio and those pictures were taken before digital cameras and I had the film developed. I can't believe I haven't been thrown in jail.

My mom used to work in the photofinishing industry and there were guidelines for what was deemed reportable. Naked kids in a bathtub was not reportable. Naked kids with naked adults, in provacative positions, was reportable. Of course this was 30 years ago, before common sense took a dive off the cliff.

Sara,

Honestly, this kind of policy is simply CYA by a company as big as Wal-Mart, to prevent them from being implicated in any way in any impropriety. Big companies will tell employees to err on the side of caution, because that way they can turn things over to the authorities and wash their hands of it.

This has been happening for years. Used to be the topic du jour on talk shows before Maury got into paternity testing.

Let's not forget the tradition of parents showing off embarrassing naked baby pictures to their kids' romantic prospects. Harmless tradition? Or sinister underworld child pornography crime ring!