Slashdot Mirror
Australian PM Has Parody Site Shut Down
babbling writes "The Australian Government has shut down a parody website that mocked Australian Prime Minister John Howard. The website featured a satirical speech that 'apologised' for the Iraq war. The site was down for two days before a phone call from Melbourne IT advised the owner that it had been shut down 'on the advice from the Australian Government'. A mirrored PDF copy of the "apology speech" is available."
MelbourneIT representative: "To us it looks like a phishing site."
Not bloody likely.
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
For example, some time ago there was a similar issue (reported here) about the UK Gov's "Preparing for Emergencies" site (the real one is here, the parody one here). There was some fuss about it at the time, but basically the UK Gov cocked up by not registering the .co.uk domain along with the .gov.uk, and there was no case to answer in law, because of the "fair use" clause.
Similarly, whitehouse.org and whitehouse.gov coexist. Indeed, there are probably hundreds of parody sites that work in a similar way.
Now, when I read the story, the quote from Bruce Tonkin at Melbourne IT set off my BS alarm. His claim that Melbourne IT reacts quickly to issues like this is simply not true. If you're involved in the anti-spam or anti-scam business, you'll know that Melbourne IT are one of the domain registrars of choice for phishers and spammers. In fact, Melbourne IT's procedures are so slack that they infamously transferred the panix.com domain to a third party without authorisation last year. The site was offline for several days because Melbourne IT don't work weekends. You'll see that Bruce Tonkin offered another bullshit excuse there too.
So, don't just blame the "Australian government" for this, as it's unclear who exactly intervened. A large part of the blame for this has to fall on Melbourne IT and their pisspoor procedures.. I bet they'd believe ANYBODY who rang up and claimed to be from the government. Shucks, perhaps I should give 'em a call and pretend to be John Howard.. although my English accent might give me away, though probably not.
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
Shut down this Al-Qaeda Portal.
Attack Iran. They want to sell oil for Euros.
Feloniously as always,
President-VICE Richard B. Cheney
It's the way of the world, folks. Our corporate masters can't have you exposed to a different world view, now can they. And, of course the citizens who should be protecting the old "democratic" system are way too busy.
looks like this was not Minitrue approved!
And there I was thinking parodical works were protected
Google cached the site http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:cQX3U8xCBCgJ:w ww.johnhowardpm.org/+&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=1
This has always bothered me. Why is it that Parody is the only "fair use"? You can't mention something in a serious manner, but if you take the piss out of it, it's legal? Never quite gotten that.
EpiAdv - if you like Pokey the Penguin, try this comic!
Politicians are in the public eye, and should expect satire and public attention. No one forced them to be politicians. Danish cartoons causing bloodshed, and now this. Does the Australian government think its people so dumb that they can't distinguish parody from sincerity?
What a miserable miserable world we live in.
Politicians should grow some thicker skin in Oz. Hard to imagine a more thin skinned bunch, what next, censorship, oh, wait, that's exactly what it is.
50 years ago, March 17th, 1956, Fred Allen, born May 31, 1894 in Cambridge MA to irish catholic parents, famed comedy writer and radio comedian, died of a heart attack while walking his dog.
I'll toast him with a pint of Guinness. Thanks Fred, for all the laughs.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I would much rather be able to see boobs on commerical television, than criticize my own government.
Of course, I'm not Australian, and I may not be catching their humor.
However, the PDF document looks "offical" enough to possibly be the "real thing".
If this is satire, it's not translating well. It's no surprise the government wanted it taken down.
It would have been better to request that the material clearly be labelled "parody" or "fiction", because some wankers might be confused and think Howie is a nice guy.
I'm glad to see that Australia now has the same level of freedoms as Iran, North Korea, and China.
I love the Austrailian people and I hope that the US will liberate them from their repressive government sometime soon.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
... that it isn't Little Johnny Howard.
It has long been my habit to keep aquainted with opinions opposed to my own, and to canvas a wide range of views.
That line really made me laugh.
He said that after two days of silence, a customer service representative from Melbourne IT today informed him by telephone that the site had "been closed on the advice from the Australian Government"
People know censorship when they see it.
People do not like being censored.
I suggest if you are an Aussie and this bothers you, vote John Howard and his friends out of office.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I think if it was modded funny it would work either way. If the guy was serious we could say that he is funny for thinking that, if was being sarcastic we could salute his humor.
Are we really talking about Australia here? Or am I suffering from this rare disorder that causes me to misread "China" as "Australia"
Don't they have free speech in Austrailia?
This wouldn't happen in the USA because we have free speech. Except if a lesbian is offended, then it's sexual harrassment. Or on campuses with a speech code. Or it you want to advertise cigarettes. Or alcohol. Or if you want to run political ads, then it might violate campaign finance reform, even if it's exactly like this John Howard web site.
So this wouldn't happen in the USA in the early 80s. We sort-of had free speech back then.
Well, I've looked at the PDF of the satire website, comparing it with the real deal, and I have to say that the two are extremely similar....virtually identical with the exception of content. In this light, the reason offered by Bruce Tonkin, the chief technology officer of Melbourne IT, holds a bit of water: Upon closer observation, however, this reason leaks like a sieve. The parody websise is not a direct copy...far from it, since the content is radically different. This reason also conveniently glosses over the rather important fact that the Melbourne IT was ordered to yank the website by the Australian Government.
Mr.Tonkin goes on to say: Phishing??? Phishing for what??? This claim is patently ridiculous.
The reason Melbourne IT yanked the website is pure and simple: they were told to by the Government.
Our fundamental human rights are being slowly whittled away...not only in America, but around the world. There is no save harbor. There is nowhere to hide from the oppression. Concerned citizens have to make a stand now...not because it is the right thing to do, but because they have no other option, finding themselves with their backs against the wall.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
For crying out loud! A parody is to make fun of something by keeping enough alike to make it seem "real" while twisting enough to make it "too real" or "too weird".
For me, it seems like the PM was afraid his voters are dumb enough to actually take the parody as a real statement from him.
Or maybe his speeches are nonsensical enough that a spoof COULD actually be real.
The choice is his.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm probably going to get marked as a troll or something but the site (see google cache elsewhere) does indeed try to look identical to the real site and links everything but the speeches to the original site, down to the copyright notice.
Copying material for satire is probably legal in this case, but he should not have misrepresented ownership of the text he wrote.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
when I was reading the "speech" I could hear it as the words of John Howard. Whoever wrote it did a great job in mimicking Howard's speech writers. It seemed spot on to me.
.. my visions of John Howard were formed in the 80's from the radio comedy How green was my cactus where his character was "Little Johnny Howard". I'll never be able to shake that caricature of him :-)
.. it sucks not to have free speech.
On the other hand, for the Aussies reading this
But yeah
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Well at last he's doing something about sedition instead of just talking about it. I'd better stop thinking freely.
Any Australian would know this is a fake speech because the Mr Howard is pathologically unable to apologise for anything.
I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”
John Howard is a fully paid up member of the "Coalition of the Willing". Bush's buddies, hellbent on "bringing democracy to Iraq" whilst simultaneously removing any trace of it from their own countries.
You'd be surprised at just how many people are actually in favor of censorship. I saw some study once (can't remember where) that said almost half of the people they surveyed would be in favor of outlawing "dangerous" speech, meaning ideas dissenting from the majority. This is why more people don't vote against these politicians.
>>... I hope that the US will liberate them from their repressive government sometime soon
Not only that, John Howard will be helping US doing it.
Wait! Dang! Loop!
>^C
>^D
>quit
>close
>q!
>bye
Given the attention span of your average internet reader, I imagine many people WILL miss the satire. However, which lies are worse?
The lies of the author, claiming to be John Howard? A desperate ploy in desperate times, an attempt to catch the attention of people who may not have read the truth behind all the Pre-War propaganda. (With a healthy dose of humour, once you catch on)
Or the lies and exagerations of the propaganda to gain public approval? Just get the impression out that it's not really that bad: first impressions count, not boring facts that come out later on. It's all right Joe Public, sit back and watch the news like another TV show. Don't complain to your ministers. There's no real people in TV land, are there?
Atleast people in India seems to elect a sensible PM. Our politicians have lot to learn. May be Indians elect educated people to the top post(current president used to be a scientist). Especially in US, we have elected an idiot to the top post and enitre world is affected by him. No wonder world hates us.
Have you seen the other options?
We would, but there's nobody to vote into office. All we can chose from is a bunch of near-identical lying pricks.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
This is one of those tricky intersections of "rights" and "law." Note that "rights" are things we have whether the law recognizes it or not. That's the classic liberal "natural law" version, and it's what most modernized democracies found their legal system on. Among those rights are speech, especially the right to speech of a political nature. The law protects IP because such laws ultimately benefit everybody (in theory), but this guy MIGHT be breaking IP laws to make a political statement. My take would be that his political statement isn't being silenced, just this particular method of making it. The guy could probably re-package or re-do the web site to make it more clearly a parody and get around the IP laws on this. What pisses me off is that it was just SHUT DOWN rather than trying this very reasonable intermediate step.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
There are many things that bother Australians, including the government, but it seems that we like having a prick in charge. It's like domestic violence, if he beats me, it means he can protect me by beating others the same way he beats me. It's fucked up, and it seems people want it that way.
Remember, it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to pull the trigger of a sniper rifle.
Have you seen the other options?
Honestly, I haven't, and the options in the US are not much better.
What a truly pathetic state of politics the world is in.
Noone that is honest and good would last 2 days in elected office nowadays, that is if they even considered running for elected office.
Even the most good would lose in a landslide.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Australians have no legal guarantee of free speech and we've never demanded one. All Western Governments have been clamping down on human rights since 9/11 and people keep voting them back in.
We'd all do better off without such hateful speech.
Betterment through censorship is a one step forward-two steps backwards maneuver.
damaged by dogma
In the U.S. we're supposed to be a beacon of freedom and tolerance. When we don't meet these ideals, they should be pointed out. In fact, people are doing us a favor for pointing out our flaws because it's possible we don't see them ourselves.
Let me use an analogy... If I have some food on the corner of mouth after I eat, I hope my friends will tell me about it, and not just ignore it because some guy down the hall spilled his entire meal on his tie.
People from around the world point out our flaws because we're disappointing them. After we did so much to liberate the world from tyranny in the 20th century, they want us to continue in the 21st. And if we don't meet that benchmark, then they want to tell us to get better.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
This is merely a case of the Australian government protecting gullible leftists, I.e. see:
a ny-things-ive-said-about-john-howard
_ 21387.shtml
http://stoush.net/liam/213/in-which-i-take-back-m
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article
Shame you have to replace him with somebody, the place would probably run better with noone at the helm.
I'm reminded of John Howard's apology in The Games. Except that in that apology the distinguished, official-looking gentleman delivering the speech never claimed to be anybody other than John Howard, speaking from Sydney Australia.
This was perfectly true: he really was John Howard, just not the John Howard. But few people outside of Australia know what the John Howard who hangs out in Canberra looks like...
...laura
Rotten tomatoes will make a comeback!
Not like we have it any different here in the US.
Democracy is pretty much a joke these days. Here's an idea, though: Vote independent, or write in your own name. If enough people protest the system like this, eventually a cantidate will come along to take advantage of this.
Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
Historically, free societies have been controlled very easily because the means of mass producing propoganda were easily centered in the hands of a few elites. Basically, the same people who sold you your thoughts every day were the ones who bought your government every day. The internet has blown the hinges off this system. Now, you have small fries all over the world projecting power and strength well beyond what the system has determined is their right. One blog, backed by a good mind, can destroy a politician. And the bastards are scared. This sort of arbitrary exercise of authority is exactly what people do when they're scared. The system is trying to get a handle on the internet, before the internet becomes big enough and strong to end their control of the means of production of propoganda. Unfortunately, that boat has already sailed. It's hard being a pol.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
This sounds just like the DMCA. It is a outright pure restriction on freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. If this were to happen in the United States, no one would say anything, and it would be silenced in the name of national security, or some other right winged, freedom hating Bush initiative.
When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. - Jefferson
"... There are men of ambition so depraved, who would rejoice to be called wicked, if with that they could appear what the corruptions of the word, and the servility of historians, have denominated great.
"But these same men would never have courage to consummate their crimes, were they taught that these crimes would render them contemptible, and still more, ridiculous."
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
The irony! I just got censored in a slashdot censorship post! ;)
If enough people protest the system like this, eventually a cantidate will come along to take advantage of this.
If the write-in campaign works out like you say, what could Australians expect from a Yahoo Serious administration?
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
From parent poster, modded flamebait despite being the Truth©!
Attack Iran. They want to sell oil for Euros.
Irritated yet, G-man?
So find someone who has the following characteristics:
The usual mistake grassroots campaigns make is trying to find someone with brains, a firm grasp of the issues, and a sense of justice and fairness. The average voter couldn't care less about these characteristics if the candidate looks like Danny deVito. Find someone who looks pretty and likes to talk and you'll have a winner.
Hell, recall Mel Gibson (if he's not completely Americanized) and run him. The women's vote would carry the election.
Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
The Oz Government requested that the site be taken down on the grounds of a potential copyright infringement. It's unclear from the article how the request was made, but they usually come in the form of a "take-down" issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority under the Broadcasting Services Act (Google 'em, I'm lazy) which goes to the orgainsation hosting the site and says that there's a website which uses copyrighted material without the authority of the copyright holder, please take it down within 48 hours (IIRC). Process open to abuse? Absolutely.
Take Down notices don't turn up as often as you'd think but even if one wasn't issued, when the Government called Melbourne IT, you can bet that they said "how high"..
Fair use. Yes, Australia has Fair Use exceptions within their copyright regime and they extend to the use of copyrighted material for the purposes of satire. This site clearly falls within the exception.
Further, Australians have an "implied right" of "freedom of political communication". Basically, the Australian Consitution "implies" that Australians have the right of free speech insofar as that speech relates to politicians and the political process (ie because your speech relates to the election of government and by extension politicians, you are free to say what you want - approximately accurate nutshell). It's actually quite restricted and has failed as a defence (it's not a positive right like the US right, only a defence) on a number of occasions, most notably when a satirical song was created about an Australian politician called Pauline Hanson by a satirist called Pauline Pantsdown. It was an hilarious satire using Pauline Hanson's own words but mixed up & rephrased (definitely worth googling).
I gues that the end story here is that the Australian Govt. have done themselves NO favours. Requesting the site be taken down was always going to make the press and was always going to go against the Govt. End result is better publicity for his piece.
And it's not bad - gets the tone right and doesn't resort to the usual "nah-nah-nah" that passes for political satire in Australia.
Pretty much spot on, content included.
And could someone do the guy a favour & mirror the PDF?
Serves you right for inventing this nonsense.
Go and read the PDF. Now assume that its been sent to you, as-is. Nothing whatsoever on that indicates in any way, shape, or form that it was a work of Satire, that those words did not come from John Howard. Its not as if it was posted on The Onion, or another similar site, that clearly indicates it is not official.
Now look down at the bottom. There's a copyright link which, like a lot of other links on the site, actually leads to the official website's copyright page. By doing that, and by not having anything anywhere on the page that identifies the authors in any other way, they may well have actually assigned copyright (I'm not familiar with the intracies of Australian copyright law). In that case, as the copyright owners (if not the authods), they were completly within their rights to insist that the piece be removed.
There's satire, and then there's impersonation. To me, for something to be protected even if satirical there would have to be some way, other than a personal evaluation of the content of the attributed text, for them to be able to tell that they're not looking at a "true" website. It can be evocative of the original, but should not be too easily mistaken for it. In the same way that, in the 'States, Saturday Night Live can use the presidential trappings for a "Press Conference" but if they were to broadcast a) without a laugh track, and b) using a body double instead of a "regular" actor, and c) react accordingly - they'd get in trouble too.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
You're just not getting it (no disrespect). As an Aussie, yo uonly really need to read the firsst couple of lines to know that this is satire. The content of the thing is SO radically removed from John Howard's stance as to be an obvious satire. Australia has quite a history (bit like the British with The Office) of doing satire that *looks* like it could be/should be real. If you're American, imagine that this purported to come straight from GW... I imagine you'd look at it and *know* that it was a joke. Same story here.
Please be specific in your attributions. The use of the unqualified term WAR is too vague as it could be construed to be The War Against Poverty, The War Against Pr0n, The War Against Drugs or, new in Oz as noted in this article, The War Against Parody. Inferring from your context and correlating with my minimal cognizance of the current geopolitical status, it is assumed you mean
The War Against Terror (TWAT).
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
Hell, recall Mel Gibson (if he's not completely Americanized) and run him. The women's vote would carry the election.
And that would be better how?
Well, at least frequently switch between the lying pricks. Or you could do like we just did in Canada. We had the choice between a party that steals money to give to their friends who run advertising agencies (in power) or a pro-American, pro-troops-in-cities party. So we gave the out-of-power right-wing party a minority government so they have to suck up to the third party, the left-wing NDP. ;)
That's not true. The Greens are good.
In the USA we have built many camps for our own citizens as well as others.
This "parody" person will soon be spirited away. Anything for our good friend Johnny.
!
Autonomous Retard -- Is your camp safe? UnsafeCamp.com
I have been reading the pdf of the speech. It is open, honest, and vulnerable, and it is to Howard's shame that he had not in fact actually given it, and in public.
Yes, to a degree it would have constituted falling on his sword, but that after all is the only thing that is really left for Bush and his supporters to do.
As an Australian myself, I have never had a high level of respect for John Howard; the Australian Liberal Party's customary economic ability notwithstanding, I do not consider Howard to be a great orator, a great statesman, or really a great man in any respect. I have a cousin who has met with him and holds quite a large degree of admiration for him, and this cousin and I have had debates on that subject on a few occasions.
If he was to honestly give a speech such as this one, it would go a long way towards reversing that opinion. That however, I know will never happen, as probably the single main component of greatness that Howard lacks, above all the others, is courage.
Tried that, didn't work. Do I have the right to complain about the oppression of my god-given rights now? Pretty please?
I'd just like to thank the Australian government. I'd never even heard of the site that was shut down. Apparently I was not alone, as the site page said they'd only had about 10 thousand hits. Now thanks to the AU, and the fact that nothing ever truely goes away on the Internet, (gotta love that Google Cache), I've learned all kinds of new things!
So Here's to the Australian Government!
Hugs & Kisses XXOO
This looks and smells like political censorship, not 'phishing' or a case of 'copyright infringement'. Disguising it that way ain't gonna work.
The incident makes it look as if in Australia it only takes a phone call from an anonymous Canberra bureaucrat to have a politically critical web-site shut down.
Ugh. Great promotion of Australia, guys.
The way Melbourne IT and Yahoo seem to have acted in this is really poor. All it took was one phone call, it seems, from some anonymous Canberra bureaucrat, making vague claims against a web site, and then Melb IT etc rushed to take the site down.
Did they attempt to verify the caller?
Did they ask for the take-down notice in writing?
Did they verify the request with their lawyers?
Did they contact the publisher to indicate that an objection had been raised about the site content, give the web-site owner a copy of the objection, and outline on what basis they proposed to take down the site?
Is the procedure for dealing with this sort of objection clear in their customer TOS?
etc.
As a tax-payer whose $$ have funded the supposedly Commonwealth copyrighted material that Mr Neville was supposed to be infringing on, I would also at a minimum like to have the original request for the take-down notice made publicly available, so that voters can see who issued it, and under what legal authority. We need transparency here.
I wonder now how many *other* instances of political censorhip happen in Australia, thanks to anonymous bureaucrats closing down web sites and other political commentary platforms, but which never make the news. Who knows.
Maybe Condy should raise the issue of democracy and press freedom in Australia with Mr Howard while she is in the country. Seems apt.
Q. What's the difference between John Howard and an Orang Utang?
A. Orang Utangs come from Idonesia.
The problem is that every time the Government screws up, the opposition shoots themselves in the foot, and sends people back to the government. Devil you know and all that.
There is very little talent on either side of politics. Hell, why would you go and get a $120k a stressful job that you might keep if the public like you when you could go and get a $250k a year stressful job which you will probably keep unless you screw up. Talented leaders who believe in themselves aren't about to waste time in politics. Politicians have to be the only people in a position of power who get their jobs without 5 interviews and an impressive resume.
That Julia Gillard is seriously being portrayed as a possible future PM shows that we are really right down to the dregs in the pool.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
We have an alternative in Australia, since the Liberals shifted to the right and Labor followed them the Greens have taken over the old Labor parties leftist policies. If we manage to vote a hung parliment with a couple of Democrats (you know that party that used to hold the centre) we may actually get a government that has to work with each other to generate coherent policy for erveryone instead of just their mates that pay for the political advertising. Politicians make used car salesman look like saints when it comes to lying.
Unless there's a war or something going on minority governments seem to be the way to go. Everybody has to keep everybody happy or they'll get bounced. Unfortunately here in Canada that means an expensive election. Some European countries have coalition governments though, which seems to avoid that problem.
Get Alf from home and away onto this matter, I'm sure he'll
:)
be flame'in angry and the bloody mongrels that did this!
he he he he
Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.
I just read through this "speech transcript", and there is no way this is a parody. I can understand the author being angry at the host, since it is the auther that should have been contacted, and (rightfully) sued. That article is nothing but a lie and an attempt to unjustifiably discredit a man. If you disagree with his policies, you should point them out - perhaps via satire, but you shouldn't misrepresent him - that is illegal.
But this still should not have been actioned by the host.
The site was hosted on Yahoo and the domain name registeres with Melbourne IT. The site is still on Yahoo's servers and can be downloaded using an IP address and an absolute URL (so their virtual server knows which website you want. By way of explanation, here is something I previously submitted as a story:
At the request of the Australian government, domain name registrar Melbourne IT has removed DNS entries for a political opponent of a ruling political party and its policies in Iraq.
Richard Neville created a parody of one of the Australian Prime Minister's speeches and posted it on a the website www.johnhowardpm.org. After a day the website mysteriously disappeared from the Internet. Melbourne IT, domain registrar for johnhowardpm.org, and Yahoo, the website host, both denied knowledge.
Tim Longhurst has been investigating. After two days two anonymous Melbourne IT technicians have come forward and told him that "johnhowardpm.org" was removed from DNS at the request of representatives from the Australian government, without the knowledge of the domain owner. Normal proceedure is for the domain owner to at least be notified.
Australian Internet users can no longer read www.johnhowardpm.org. Yahoo's DNS server (yns1.yahoo.com) still resolves johnhowardpm.org and the pages still exist on Yahoo's server (premium7.geo.vip.re4.yahoo.com = 216.39.58.74). They may be retrieved by sending a http GET request using telnet, or by setting one's HTTP proxy to 216.39.58.74 and typing "http://www.johnhowardpm.org/" into a browser address bar.
Given that the parody was not obscene, and its facts were well backed with references the only justification seems to be political censorship by Melbourne IT and the Australian government. The Internet equivalent of a political assassination to shut someone up.
If "The Net treats censorship as a defect and routes around it.", what is the future for Melbourne IT as a registrar? The High Court of Australia has also ruled that the Australian Constitution contains a right to freedom of political speech.
We're definitely talking about Australia here.
qntm.org
Please don't judge the rest of us Australians by the lack intelligence displayed by Melbourne IT. They are retards, and had an undeserved monopoly over .com.au names for far too long charging $180/2yrs. I think they still charge something like that even tho there are cheaper places around.
In short, they're everything I hate about IT.
That's right, write in your own name and void your vote entirely.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Christ. Somebody actually thought this comment was worth posting. Let me try:
"Here's a thought. If enough people wear a duck on their heads, we'll soon see commercially manufactured duck hats at Sears."
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
I don't know what USA you live in but you can't just go around using the presidential seal on anything you like. The website in question had the australian government coat of arms (same deal). The reason this is off line is not because of the content but because it looks like an official government website and is using official logos.
Melbourne IT's 'support' is a fracking joke.
1. unanswered emails
2. incredibly tardy support (even the automated acknowledgment message from their web form takes days to arrive)
3. their web site is buggy; some features are broken and error messages are utterly unhelpful and confusing
4. they don't fix reported issues
5. go back to step 1
you had me at #!
A choice of crooks, who loot public taxpayer-filled coffers by directing millions to dodgey companies who have a history of bribes and collusion with self-same crooked party, OR a choice of a party notoriously dishonest and contemptious of community and social programs that seem to be a willing, even an enthusiastic participant in war crimes and terrorism.
A term for this situation thats entirely apropos here - the giant douche VS the turd sandwich.
And the reason this site was shut down? An expose on the crimes comitted by our federal government - funneling bribes to Sadaam Hussein, insider trading on AWB shares, tacit approval of war crimes committed during the invasion of Iraq, including bombing hospitals, use of illegal WMDs, torture, execution of fleeing civilians and children, and other crimes against humanity.
"The new anti terror laws will not target free speech."
http://www.richardneville.com/
http://geocities.com/mypaljohn
I dislike politicians as much as the next guy
in particular Vague , Astrology statements John Howard blurts out
but This isnt a damage to freedom of speech
it was blatent Fraud & Copyright infringement.
he who posted it deserves more than a shut down site.
using the Australian Goverment site logon emblems mirror scheme to make it look authentic also qualifies as Phishing.
Political communication is indeed protected in Australia as an adjunct to the democratic system created by the Constitution.
The text of the parody speech would fall squarely into that protection.
However, it's even more complex - whilst political speech is protected directly, it is not protected against limitations imposed for other reasons. So for example, in a leading case burning an effigy in an area where fires were banned was not protected speech because the purpose of the fire ban was not to suppress political communication but to control fires (see Levy v Victoria).
So in this case the copyright law might validly extinguish any right to political communication.
Still bullshit from Melbourne IT, of course.
Read Pynchon.
You're kidding right?
... it gets a bit depressing sometimes, especially when the opposition has been in a decade-long death spiral.
I've voted against the Liberals (ironically named conservative party) year in and year out, and it doesn't make any bloody difference.
What I see is a nation of people who couldn't care less about Iraq, wheat scandals, foreign policies and all that. They just want to be able to keep paying credit for all the things they want, and watch the footy on weekends.
Buy a big house. No - bigger! Fill it with furniture. Now get a plasma TV. No - bigger than that! Now get your home theatre up. And maybe put in a pool. Better get a car - no, two cars! Make them four-wheel drives. Sure, they're death-traps on the road, but put in bull-bars and you'll only kill *other* people.
Now - hope like buggery that interest rates don't move, because you've mortgaged yourself up to the hilt and even a percentage shift will send you to the wall.
That's Australia.
We've got suburbs full of people just like that. They vote in Howard because he promises economic stability and he'll keep those dirty reffos out.
This is a complete non-issue. So what if some website taking the piss gets shutdown? Who cares! The Commonwealth games are on, and we're winning gold medals! The rest of the world can go screw itself - we're all right, Jack!
of course John wants the website down, he has never apologised for anything he has done as PM, why start now?
Actually, there is the Greens, who are very honest and competent. It's a lot better than the US, where there is no relevant third party.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Why ? Howard is one of the most well-informed and publically aware politicians in the country. Unlike, say, Beazly, who (by his own admission) often goes days without even reading a newspaper.
Initially I thought that they had shut down the John Howard Prime Minister blog (which is actually funny), but instead it looks like they removed some other website with no sense of humour.
Satire works so much better when it is *funny*.
Incidentally, John Howard's blog is still up. (Satire? This? Never!)
John Howard is of course the same guy that started recorded telephone spam in Australia. Until the last election everyone was under the impression it was illegal - then the Prime Minister did it, and so we have a lot of it now from other sources.
His politics is just old style Tory politics - the sort of stuff that America saw before the revolution.
Back on topic, Australia has some broad web censorship laws mostly imposed to keep an independant senator happy, but rarely used. Rememeber when you consider these laws the Australian goverment has ownership of the ".cx" domain (Christmas Island - mostly an expensive penal colony for illegal immigrants) - so the laws are only rolled out on special occasions and not applied to the famous images there.
Next time you see something scary on a ".cx" domain, think of John Howard.
"anti-abortion agenda of the Christian Right"
Plenty of people from the atheist left support anti-abortion
Here in Australia, once you have turned 18 you must enrol to vote.
After enrolling, if you fail to vote at any federal, state or council election you will be fined ($50-$100 IIRC)
The ignorant masses are FORCED to vote for politicians they know absolutely nothing about.
The best bet is not to enrol at all.
Howard is really an embarassing representative for the Australian people. He said legal recognition for same-sex relationships will cause humanity to become extinct. Apparently, he believes that, if same-sex marriage is legal, almost all heterosexuals will suddenly convert into homosexuals (which is impossible, of course) and enter into a same-sex marriage. Also, he is under the false impression that homosexuals are sterile.
This is a leader of a Western nation? It's sad.
Nothing else really says it better than this australian hip hop band, and I can tell you from living here, everything he says is dead on
77% - Herd
(Radio talkback...)
(Cheers) Well I'm left sitting here staring into a beer
shaking my head at the same ol' loathing and fear
Stranger in my own land, can't understand
How the very word Australian has been damned
I fucking hate myself, take 'Aussie' from my name
Erase this endless shame, forever casting blame
If you don't act the same will I destroy you?
Everyone looks the same beaten, black and blue
So I've had enough of these redneck pricks
When fact is the only real shit that sticks
Watch as I tear the very skin from my face
So none'll see my race, my deep disgrace
Your not even from here in the first place
And those that are you wanna further debase
Nup, no more, never again whether by fist or pen
I will defend, cos I'm at a loose end
The shattered remnants of Aussie dignity
I'm a skip, whitey, round-eye suprise me
By using your shrivelled brain to please explain
How the clever country just went down the drain
We rode the sheep's back now the sheep ride you
If this is how its gonna be don't call me 'true blue'
I denounce my ancestors, wounds still fester
If you say 'it aint so' I suggest ya' wake up
(Chorus)
It's time for you to
Wake up - this country needs a fucking shake up
Wake up - these cunts need a shake up (x4)
Talkback squawking hacks won't relax
Until Jones'y, Zemanek and Laws are all axed
77 percent of aussies are racist
And if you're here, I'll say it your faces
Rich redneck pricks still hold all the aces
So I'll buy ya a beer, with an arsenic chaser
Better off dead? is that what I've said?
Tempting to take for all the blood you've shed
No doubt your as bad as your dads and ya mums
Mainsteam media making me so fucking glum
Just anglo reality, intellectual cavities
Channel 9 fostering prejudiced mentalities
I won't be a casualty, just mention casually
That I can't stand for you shit-eating bullies
Preying on peeps without a mainstream voice
Most of you stay silent but I've got no choice
(Chorus)
Well I've yelled my lungs out but to no avail
Well I've yelled my lungs out but to no avail
Well I've yelled my lungs out but to no fukin' avail
That you're a stranger yourself now thats the sting in the tail
Captain Cook was the very first queue jumper
It was immigrant labour that made Australia plumper
Enough is enough, whiteys go pack your stuff
Don't wanna live in England? That's fucking tough
I'm sick and tired of this redneck wonderland
Most've you stay silent and I can't understand
I just can't understand (understand)
(Chorus)