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Australian PM Has Parody Site Shut Down

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ah-to-breath-the-free-air-of-australia dept.

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."

3 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. It doesn't look like satire to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  2. Chilling. by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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:
    "If we receive a complaint from an intellectual property basis claiming that a website directly infringes the rights of another site we would check it, and if it is a direct copy we would suspend the site," he said.
    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:
    "To us it looks like a phishing site."
    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

  3. Only ourselves to blame by davem2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.