Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005    Text size: 

The amateur picture message board made news in late October when several picture series featuring pictures purportedly taken in Iraq were posted on its forums. While the accusations were initially denied by the Pentagon, an investigation into the photographs turned up at least one soldier whose name, rank and picture bore a resemblance to a person in the images.

The Pentagon has now blocked access to the site where images of at least eight female GIs have been posted.

“They’re moody,” Chris Wilson, owner of NowThatsFuckedUp.com, told XBiz. “I’ve been told that they’re blocking the site because it’s posting the photos of the soldiers. They don’t want their soldiers looking at pornography and all that.”

The U.S. military, which described pornography as “the display of human genitalia, uncovered women’s breasts or any human sexual act,” bans all possession of the material under General Order No. 1.

“If your big brother sent you a Playboy for fun, it would be your responsibility to get rid of it immediately,” Pentagon spokeswoman Maj. Elizabeth Robins told the press previously. “The Army takes it seriously. Soldiers have been prosecuted for possessing unauthorized items.”

The Pentagon’s ban on access to the site hasn’t made a serious dent into Wilson’s traffic, according to the site owner, who said GI access from Iraq accounts for a significant portion of his visitors.

“I get a ton of soldiers,” Wilson said. “Around 20 or 30 percent of my traffic is from soldiers in Iraq, and [even with the ban] it still is.”

According to Wilson, he offers free access to the pay areas on his site to anyone who can prove they are a member of the U.S. armed forces.

“They don’t have a lot of money over there, and a lot of them were saying that they were trying to sign up and having credit card problems from overseas,” Wilson said. “Plus, I wanted to give them something like home.”

Military members currently stationed in Iraq are still able to access the site by purchasing private, unfiltered Internet connections. Those connections are highly expensive, according to Wilson.

The influx of soldier-related traffic has also caused a variety of new military- and Iraq-centered forums to recently appear on the site.

“I wanted a place for people to view pictures from the soldiers themselves rather than the pics the press feed us,” Wilson said.