Last month Prime Minister ScoMo’s website was taken over when the domain license lapsed. The usual drivel was replaced by a picture of the PM set to the track ‘Scotty Doesn’t Know’ by Lustra. It was funny. Everyone had a good laugh.
Former PM Tony Abbott has now been targeted in a similar way, with a fake website being created with a URL that could be easily mistaken for the real thing.
To be clear, if you head over to tonyabbott.com.au you’ll find that everything is in order. But a prankster has bought http://tonyabbottmp.com and used it to create a parody site.
According to ICANN WHOIS, the site was registered on November 7 by somebody in Victoria. While it’s unclear if this domain existed before this date, it doesn’t look like it.
The site itself contains extremely important faux-information, such as Abbott’s ‘dietary requirements’.
“I have sampled many treats from the fertile Australian ground, and I am happy to report that Mother Earth’s climate has not changed. Her succulent flesh is as delectable as always. The onion is my spirit vegetable because it makes people cry.”
My personal favourite is ‘Tony’s Daily Diatribe’, which is a blog that contains only one post from ‘August 28’, with a special message for Malcolm Turnbull.
The website also takes aim at some of Abbott’s controversial opinions, with a section dedicated to organisations that readers “should not donate to”, such as The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and The Aboriginal Literacy Foundation. But if you click on the links, it takes you to the donation pages for these orgs, which is awesome.
This and the ScoMo debacle are certainly good lessons for anyone in the public eye – buy up every domain variant of your name, or prepare to be trolled.