The popular punk/goth-themed pinup site Suicide Girls has suffered some of the chilling effects of the FBI's new anti-pornography campaign.
While the site has not recieved formal legal notice yet, according to a statement obtained by Punknews.org from founder Missy Suicide:
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.
Site administrator Olivia announced the self-censorship in a post to the site's message board, and even FBI agents hired to find "deviant" porn are frustrated, saying: "I guess this means we've won the war on terror. We must not need any more resources for espionage."
The popular pinup site is themed on goth and punk imagery and has released a book, organized a "burlesque" tour, released a DVD and most recently, issued a compilation with Alkaline Trio, Skinny Puppy and many others contributing tracks. The latter was released through Epitaph.
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 wrongfullyconstrued as sadist or masochist.
Given the natural disasters inLouisiana 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 thelegality 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.
Yours Truly,
Missy Suicide