Lib Dem cyber-propaganda targets Plaid Cymru
RIPitUp | 30.05.2001 10:18
Lib Dem Councillor cybersquats domain and places misleading information on 'official' lib dem site in poorly executed propaganda stunt...
On 12th May 2001 the domain plaid-cymru.co.uk was registered via Webfusion by one John Dixon.
If you look at the page at
http://www.plaid-cymru.co.uk you get the message:
"Due to high server demand, this page is temporarily unavailable."
The source code for that page is as follows:
Not the Plaid Cymru home page
Sorry, you don't appear to have frame support. Go here instead.
This means the page you see when you look at www.plaid-cymru.co.uk is actualy the page http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.dixon12/not_plaid, which is a page residing on the "official website of the Adamsdown ward of the Welsh Liberal Democrats" (accessible via http://www.adamsdown.org.uk and co.uk but really at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.dixon12/), jointly run by Lib Dem Councillors John Dixon and Nigel Howells.
Cybersquatting the domain plaid-cymru.co.uk is one thing, placing an obviously misleading statement (that's a lie to you and me) on what claims to be an official lib dem website is quite another!
(Nb back in January, the Labour Party posted negative and anonymous comments about Plaid Cymru on a range of newsgroups, except they omitted to disguise their IP addresses which led straight back to Millbank - doh!)
If you look at the page at
http://www.plaid-cymru.co.uk you get the message: "Due to high server demand, this page is temporarily unavailable."
The source code for that page is as follows:
Not the Plaid Cymru home page
Sorry, you don't appear to have frame support. Go here instead.
This means the page you see when you look at www.plaid-cymru.co.uk is actualy the page
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.dixon12/not_plaid, which is a page residing on the "official website of the Adamsdown ward of the Welsh Liberal Democrats" (accessible via http://www.adamsdown.org.uk and co.uk but really at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.dixon12/), jointly run by Lib Dem Councillors John Dixon and Nigel Howells. Cybersquatting the domain plaid-cymru.co.uk is one thing, placing an obviously misleading statement (that's a lie to you and me) on what claims to be an official lib dem website is quite another!
(Nb back in January, the Labour Party posted negative and anonymous comments about Plaid Cymru on a range of newsgroups, except they omitted to disguise their IP addresses which led straight back to Millbank - doh!)
RIPitUp
Comments
Hide the following 8 comments
What did they say?
31.05.2001 05:51
Lemming
e-mail:
lemming@grandtheftcyber.com
Scandal!
31.05.2001 06:23
Coverage of the scandal in the IT media:
www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/16472.html
www.vnunet.com/News/1117417
David Currie's posting history:
Adrian McMenamin's posting history:
Hairy Melon Jones' (no kidding) posting history:
Pay particular attention to this thread:
Not only is this a despicable attempt at a smear campaign, but Labour has also shown a complete disregard for netiquete, using tactics such as trolling and "me too" follow-ups.
Anyone know of any other cases like this?
Lemming
e-mail:
lemming@grandtheftcyber.com
Reply from tricky Dixon
31.05.2001 10:47
From: John Dixon Save Address - Block Sender
To: Daniel Brett Save Address
Subject: Re: FOUND OUT
Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 23:08:29 +0100
Get over yourself. I've not been hiding, but well done on being the last person to get worried about the domains.
This was a story about three weeks ago. The Electoral Commission says nothing wrong has been done, and that they're not interested. The site makes clear who's responsible, and that it's not official in any way. I've said I'll allow the domains to be re-registered to the other parties when the election's over.
Big deal.
John
Daniel Brett
e-mail:
dan@danielbrett.co.uk
Related info:
01.06.2001 16:52
The story was indeed reported some time ago:
but this was when there was content on the site instead of that fake server message.
the reply from j dixon above saying "The site makes clear who's responsible, and that it's not official in any way" is not true (may have been when the original content was there).
bbsee
Election Selection
01.06.2001 17:05
Good issue based stuff at:
Nun of the above
Register a vote for 'nun of the above' if the current available options do not appeal
Guilty Party
DJ collective, Coldcut have launched their own satirical 'Guilty Party' website and have released a track - Re:Volution - to coincide with the election campaign.
Vote for Bob Dobbs
The Free Party was formed to give people in Brighton, Kemp Town & Hove who have become disillusioned and disassociated with politics a platform to register their discontent.
Nobody cares - vote Nobody!
Based in Bristol, the Nobody campaign urges a vote for Nobody. "Wherever there is disillusionment with the sham of British electoral politics, Nobody is ready to make a stand. After all, Nobody will make a difference."
vote 4 me
Election Selection 2
01.06.2001 17:10
Games and gags
Kiss the baby
Kiss the babies to win more votes for your party - beware of the mummies.
Stereo MP's
Make Tony, William or Ann dance to your favorite tune
Parliament Invaders 2001
Defend Parliament with your choice of politician, carefully avoiding the mad cows....
Crouching Tony, Hidden Hague
Excellent take-off of the Nintendo and Playstation game, Tekken, using a choice of William and Tony as opponents.
Pac Man Labour-style
A pac man take off - inviting the player to navigate around the game board steering William Hague into number 10 by cutting as many costs as possible, along the way. Created by the Labour party.
Fantasy Election
Find out which political party most closely meets your ideals and create your fantasy PM
Am I electable or not?
Submit the photo of who you would most like to be in the Cabinet
Who do I vote for?
If you're not sure who to vote for, take this test.
You are Tony Blair
How will you make your way to campaign victory?
Splat 'em!
splatgame.html
Splat the residents of 10 Downing Street or
More punching with Prescott games.....
'Boxing with Biffa'
Catch the eggs with your mouse but avoid Biffa's boxing gloves
'Punch with Prezza'
Click on the link on the left.
Prezza
More egg throwing and punching
Fat Cat?
Right, William
Use this Frogger clone to help William Hague get to the Far Right!
The C-team
Ann Widdecombe meets BA Barachus
Zap!
Politically themed space invaders
Urban 75
Punch or warp your least favourite politician.
or silence them
Anagrams.net has a good politics page. Tony Blair: I’m a Tory plan B and Peter Mandelson: Lamented Person.
The Anagram genius directory also contains some good political word play.
Liberal Democrats translates to ‘All mediocre brats’ and the Ulster Unionist Party ‘Plain Untrusty Tories’
MyLittleTony.com
Tony the Pony (actually a ‘linguabot’) will answer all your questions – including which is his favourite Spice Girl. You must have the macromedia Flash 5 plug in to view.
Tonygochi
indexy.html
Download your own Tonygochi pet so you can have your own pet Tony Blair on your desktop. You can see him generate new policies and attend focus groups while feeding and caring for your virtual PM.
Campaigns
Joke e-mail.com
A good example of how email can be used to spread the word. Based in the US, the politics section encourages the user to send 'George Bush slogans' and 'Florida one liners' to their friends. The site has been used over 300,000,000 times.
Conservative manifesto.co.uk
An interesting version of the Conservative Manifesto
New Labour Party?
Euro-trash
Anti-Europe site
Bring back Mandy
Site dedicated to renewing the career of Peter Mandleson
The unofficial Peter Mandleson fan club
The National Association of Ted Heath Burners
Campaigning for effigies of Ted Heath to be burned on November the 5th for leading the country into the European Economic Community
Picture Gallery
Demon Eyes II
The history of election cartoons
Satire
www.fluffycow.com
A platform allowing digital artists and online pranksters to make a contribution to General Election fever.
Herd of Sheep
"The news shepherd for news sheep"
e-politicians
0,9433,451806,00.html
Meet e-Tony, e-Charles and e-William. Subscribe to their mailing lists and send them your opinons.
Be Aware
Surreal party site
The Brains Trust
Satirical news magazine that the Guardian dubs "The British son of the Onion"
The Commentary Box
An ‘e-zine’ covering sport and pop culture but has a specific politics section that’s worth a visit.
Spinon.co.uk
This e- zine includes loads of animated games such as the ‘Hague goes trucking’ simulator, ‘Who wants to be dubya?’ and a ‘Prescott vote randomiser’
Laugh at Politicians
See Robin Cook with three eyes and Blair the Bogeyman here.
Private Eye
Online version of the famous satirical magazine. Issue 10 at this link has lots of interactive games.
Polisat.com
US based political satire site soon to launch a worldwide news network. Includes limericks, rhymes and palindromes
vote 4 me
Election Selection 3
01.06.2001 17:10
Visit the above to find the entertaining disclaimer: "This site and the domains www.plaid-cymru.co.uk and www.plaid.co.uk are not connected in any way with Plaid Cymru." - From the Welsh Liberal Democrats
William Hague in the flesh.
A holding page claiming not to be affiliated with the UK Cannabis Internet Activists
Gives you the opportunity to comment on areas of the PM’s policy making you may disagree with and invites you to ‘stick the boot in’.
This site urges all readers to vote for Ken Livingstone for mayor of London whilst adopting the voice of Margaret Thatcher. Includes links to the unofficial Ken Livingstone site at
'An analysis of the reality behind Labours ‘ethical’ foreign policy' - under construction.
The secretary of State for International Development has a nice collection of indoor potted plants?
Leading you to the Socialist workers party
And here are some non-humorous domain hijackers….
vote 4 me
Dixon responds
05.06.2001 08:55
From: John Dixon
Address - Block Sender
To: Daniel Brett
Subject: Re: FOUND OUT
Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 22:10:50 +0100
I think I finally worked out what you're complaining about - not the fact that I own the site, but the fact that it's currently directed at a page about high server demand - I thought you were worried about the mini web site I set up, which is what I sent you the BBC press cutting from.
If you'd said what it was that was your problem, I could have sorted this out ages ago. I'd completely forgotten that I'd left the domain pointing to that page - we had about 20,000 hits an hour on the mini-site at one point,
which is why I had to take the site down, as it was slowing access to the main Welsh party site.
Look again now, and you should be more than happy. If you'd been a bit more specific and a bit less aggressive, I'd have sorted this out last week when you first emailed me.
Daniel Brett
e-mail:
dan@danielbrett.co.uk