In the United States, virtual sexualized depictions of children are not illegal as long as no actual children are involved. These images, referred to as "virtual child pornography" must be distinguished from digital manipulations of photographs of actual children, which are considered illegal, as are virtual images if they are considered obscene. As technology continues to develop it may become increasingly difficult to distinguish between images that incorporate actual photographs of children, and those that are entirely virtual. Many countries have addressed this problem by criminalizing computer-generated sexualized images of children. However, this approach has also been said to punish "thought crime: which may be problematic even where the thoughts being regulated are extremely and almost universally offensive.
