In the past it was legal to produce and distribute it. Most people didn't care enough to stop it. In a relatively short time certain groups turned it from a 'meh, not my problem' to 'kill it with fire, nukes, lasers, and anything else we can throw at it'. They could potentially do the same to bitcoins. (You can even find there was a period where most all child abuse wasn't considered a problem, with one of the key cases of the era being a case where the lawyers for one abused child argued that the child should be legally considered an animal because at that time animals had greater protection). And the numbers of individuals into it are larger that most people realize (consider that 1 in 5 children are sexually abused by the time they reach 18 to know just how large the problem is).
Now, maybe certain factors like the potential demand growing for bitcoins would be enough to keep it from being banned. Also, even if you could get the public worked up about the topic, it is much harder to shock and awe them. What would a pro-ban advocacy group do, show numbers of wallets? And the ability for the government to scare people has taken a hit thanks to the backlash from the war on drugs.
In the past it was legal to produce and distribute it. Most people didn't care enough to stop it. In a relatively short time certain groups turned it from a 'meh, not my problem' to 'kill it with fire, nukes, lasers, and anything else we can throw at it'. They could potentially do the same to bitcoins. (You can even find there was a period where most all child abuse wasn't considered a problem, with one of the key cases of the era being a case where the lawyers for one abused child argued that the child should be legally considered an animal because at that time animals had greater protection). And the numbers of individuals into it are larger that most people realize (consider that 1 in 5 children are sexually abused by the time they reach 18 to know just how large the problem is).
Now, maybe certain factors like the potential demand growing for bitcoins would be enough to keep it from being banned. Also, even if you could get the public worked up about the topic, it is much harder to shock and awe them. What would a pro-ban advocacy group do, show numbers of wallets? And the ability for the government to scare people has taken a hit thanks to the backlash from the war on drugs.