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."

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

[Anonymous Coward]

looks like this was not Minitrue approved!
And there I was thinking parodical works were protected

I'm glad to see...

[soft_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.

Australia???

[shabushabu]

Are we really talking about Australia here? Or am I suffering from this rare disorder that causes me to misread "China" as "Australia"

Re:What's the problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, don't want to see the boobs of an Australian politician.

Re:Parodies, "fair use" and Melbourne IT

[bogie]

"This is a Bad Thing, and it's quite possibly unlawful. In most countries, parody sites are protected under the "fair use" clause in copyright laws"

Exactly. Here in the awesome USofA such things are protected. You are free to openly disagree with the President and his policies with NO WORRY of retribution. In other countries doing things like that would get you fired from your job, put on the nofly list, or even worse they dig up dirt on you and your family in an attempt to embarass or discredit you if you try to tell the truth.

Re:It doesn't look like satire to me

[Dystopian Rebel]

I'm American. I follow world politics fairly loosely

Will you be running for President? ;o)

Back to the good old days

[1_brown_mouse]

Rotten tomatoes will make a comeback!

Re:It doesn't look like satire to me

['nother poster]

I have too much self respect to do that.

Re:Dumbest article quote

[wrightam]

Lets face it if voting changed anything theyd make it illegal.

I love that. You just found my sig...

Re:Free speech in Austrailia?

[soft_guy]

That's why you should immediately file a sexual harassment claim against any/all lesbians you encounter. That way, you can say their claim is just to retaliate against your claim.

Re:Parodies, "fair use" and Melbourne IT

[LifesABeach]

I RTFA and to me it wasn't funny. Maybe if the tone was from the Director of Marketing for the Foster's Bewery, then THAT would be funny.

Some constructive suggestions for the site:

1. A "How To" page for using a turbin as a cooler for beer

2. A "How To" page for showing when president Bush is lying, (his lips are moving...).

3. A "How To" for watching sand as the wind blows.

4. A "How To" for looking at dead civilizations in Iraq

5. An aussie-english to aribic translation page?

"hay mate, where can I get a beer?"

"hay mate, I'm not american, I'm an aussie"

"hay mate, where can I buy some razor blades? . . . To SHAVE with!"

"hay mate, where is the local strip parlor?"

"hay mate, where is the liquor store?"

Re:Problems with this issue

[Grey Haired Luser]

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.

I take it you don't know John Howard very well.... I was rolling in tears as soon as "he" starts admitting being wrong!