Naked Marine Photo Scandal Update: Sharing Private Nude Pictures Now A Crime

The U.S. Marine Corps officially made the posting of illicit photos without consent a crime, as per new regulations released Tuesday. The rules come after the emergence of a scandal in which leaked photographs of female service members were being circulated on the internet.

The rules, which are categorized as interim until the official new edition of regulations is printed, went into effect immediately, the Navy Times reported Wednesday. They prohibit any service members from posting intimate images which are described as "any visual depiction, including by electronic means, that includes another person who is identifiable from the depiction itself or from information conveyed in connection with the depiction; depicts that person engaging in sexually explicit conduct or depicts the private area of that person; and taken under circumstances in which the person depicted had a reasonable expectation of privacy."

Read: Explicit Marines Photographs Being Sold On Dark Web

The regulations contain three conditions that would constitute a violation. If the images are disseminated "with the intent to realize personal gain; with the intent to humiliate, harm, harass, intimidate, threaten or coerce the depicted person; or with reckless disregard as to whether the depicted person would be humiliated, harmed, intimidated, threatened or coerced."

The new regulations were spurred by the emergence of an online group sharing illicit photographs of female service members in March. Investigations uncovered a Facebook group called Marines United, containing nearly 30,000 members for the sole purpose of sharing explicit photos without the consent of those in the images. The photo ring was shut down promptly, though the images began proliferating into other groups and forms of social media.

"We all have to commit to getting rid of this perversion of our culture," Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said while speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee in March.

Read: Everything To Know About Marines United Photo Scandal

Critics of the new regulations said the language used might make it hard to make a case in court. Brian Bouffard, a former Navy Judge Advocate General, told the Navy Times on Wednesday that the clause about being "humiliated, harmed, intimidated, threatened or coerced" was fraught with complications.

"If you don't know a person, how could you know that about them?" Bouffard said. "Ultimately, prosecuting these types of cases will probably require a witness to testify that they were either humiliated or harmed, etc., for the government to make an effective case."