GagWatch

Index on Censorship reports that Tripod has deleted the website - and terminated the account - of Istanbul based satirical artist, Michael Dickinson following the publication of his take on the furore following The Sun’s publication of a picture of Saddam Hussein in his underpants.

According to Dickinson:

After nearly three years Carnival of Chaos had become quite popular, sometimes with hundreds of visitors a day, making it necessary to pay for extra bandwidth every month.

So it was a bit of a surprise when I logged in on Sunday morning, only to find that the site had been removed. It was gone. Disappeared.

Checking out my Site Builder I found the following message: “You are no longer an authorized member of Tripod. You have been removed because your web site violated our Terms of Service”

I wrote to Tripod asking them to explain the reason for the removal, but so far have only received this auto-acknowledgement: “Thank you for writing to the Lycos Abuse Team. We have received your email and will be reviewing it shortly. Please be advised that due to the volume of emails we receive, this may be the only email you receive from us regarding this matter.”

During its three year lifespan Carnival of Chaos has carried some fairly disturbing and/or amusing images reflecting the interesting times we live in, but Tripod bravely allowed all to pass.

Images such as Mother Teresa teaching birth control; Donald Rumsfeld performing a ceremony with the decapitated head of an Iraqi child, Jesus throwing up at the Apartheid Wall in Occupied Palestine, Blair being lobotomised, and Sharon assassinating Arafat.

… but Bush, apparently is a butt too far.

Dickinson goes on to point out that he has features nudes in the past - including Ariel Sharon, Condoleeza Rice and even Laura Bush. He also goes on to suggest that the authorities are finally getting their act together with regards to internet regulation, suggesting that “controlling pornography” is being used as a trojan horse to restrict other content.

You can see the full size image by clicking here. Other Dickinson images remain online here.

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