Reply #96: Suicide Girls has been affected as well...

[Mr Grieves]

My girlfriend has a member account and while we were browsing the site today we found that many photos had been replaced with text saying something to the effect of "Ask Alberto Gonzales why you can't view this picture - for more info click here." We clicked and came to this message from Missy - the founder of suicide girls (an "alternative" pin-up-girl site if you are unfamiliar - strictly softcore and some fetish stuff).

link - http://suicidegirls.com/boards/Everything+SG/81705/
Our statement on this controversy is this...

While we do not believe any of our images are illegal, SG has removed a number of images in order to ensure that we are not targeted by the U.S. Government's new war on porn.

We have received no formal government notice to remove these images, however in the course of our involvement, as witnesses, in a federal criminal prosecution that does not target SG, we have been made aware of the risks posting such content poses the owners of the company. Given the U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales' new war on porn task force and it's intent to bring obscenity charges against their loosely defined "Deviant" imagery, we have removed any images with fake blood and any images we felt could be wrongfully construed as sadist or masochist.

Given the natural disasters in Louisiana and Texas, the U.S. Government's numerous foreign war's and the growing U.S. deficit, we feel there are far better uses of government resources then pursuing the legality of imagery created by consenting adults, but as is usually the case, our opinions are not shared by the current U.S. Administration. Also, we really miss Bill Clinton.

If you feel strongly about this issue, feel free to join SG in donating to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Free Speech Coalition.

Yours Truly,

Missy Suicide"

Once again this administraion's dark cloud of fear promotes defensive self-censorship - Which is what happens without clear and unequivocal first amendment protections. A word like "obcenity" can potentially be stretched like taffy, in the right climate stretching beyond the porn ghetto and into the ideological realm. Imagine whole ideologies - like Atheism, or Libralism - being decalred "obcene" by the community's standards and thus criminalized? Extreme I know. But just to say it's always worth protecting the first amendment - even for someone's right to view someone with "underage eyes." (and really half the girls on Suicide Girls seem like they could be underage and that site is about as legitamate and mainstream as porn can get)