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Since the summary didnt tell it: "Extreme Associates produced and distributed sexually degrading material that portrayed women in the most vile and depraved manner imaginable," U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, of the Western District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "These prison sentences affirm the need to continue to protect the public from obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy material, the production of which degrades all of us."

It's nice that theres no problems killing people in movies, but once theres some titties you go to jail in usa :)

I was thinking to myself... why is this any different to any porn site out there? Is porn now prohibited in the US?

I thought there was child porn or something like that, but, after reading TFA, I can't see a problem at all.

The key factor appears to be the content of the pornography. The feds may have given up on prosecuting the tamest stuff, but they have not given up on prosecuting the most hardcore material. The Extreme Associates Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] gives you an idea of what they're being prosecuted for:

• Extreme Teen 24[1]: contains a scene of a naive supposed young girl being talked into having sex by an older man. The actress involved was over 18, however dressed and acted like a young girl.[8]
• Cocktails 2[1]: various scenes of women drinking vomit, saliva and other bodily fluids.[17] It was the director's cut version of the film that was cited in the case.[1]
• Ass Clowns 3: a female journalist is being raped by a gang led by Osama bin Laden; the journalist is freed and the gang members killed. The director's cut version also contains a scene where Jesus steps off the cross and has sex with an angel.
• 1001 Ways to Eat My Jizz:
• Forced Entry[15]: The film depicts the beating, rape and murder of women by a serial killer, who is eventually killed by a mob of vigilantes.[15] There are three scenes which graphically portray rape and murder, and women are also spat on.[8] Extreme's website called it their "most controversial movie" and "a stunningly disturbing look at a serial killer, satanic rituals, and the depths of human depravity."[15] Forced Entry was directed by Lizzy Borden and released in 2002. Again it was the director's cut version of the film that was cited in the case.[1]

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Similarly, Max Hardcore [wikipedia.org] was put in the slammer early this year for similar material:

Hardcore's films generally consist of rough sex with women who act like underage girls.[3] For example in Hollywood Hardcore 13 he says to Cloey Adams, "If you're a good girl, I'll take you to McDonald's later and get you a Happy Meal."[3] He then urinates in her mouth, and Adams asks, "What do you think of your little princess now Daddy?"[3] In several of his films Max stretches the actress's anus or vagina with a speculum, then urinates into it, after which the actress sucks the urine out through a hose.[3] Although the actresses in Little's movies appear to dress and act in a way as to suggest that they are a young, possibly under the age of consent, but all of the actresses used were over the legal age of 18. In his film Max Extreme 4, an actress stated during one verbal exchange that she was 12 years-old[4].

The short and long of the matter is that vague obscenity laws are still on the books, and technically all porn is still illegal because someone somewhere is going to find it obscene. The Feds know they can't win however, so they are choosing to prosecute whomever makes the stuff that offends them the most. Nothing has really been worked out since the 70s, the Feds just can't keep prosecuting everyone like they used to.