Church and State blog: This is the latest Church and State article by one of our 13 authors that Facebook has blocked because the transhumanist piece "looks like spam" to them

Monday, April 02, 2018

This is the latest Church and State article by one of our 13 authors that Facebook has blocked because the transhumanist piece "looks like spam" to them

Our Church and State website has no less than 40 Nobel Prize winners on it; for details, see this blog's sidebar under "Church and State" (updated today).

Re: Blocks on public access to our Church and State website since 26 July 2016

From my Facebook post's Update 2 April (12.21pm):

"And it's not just Facebook blocks, blocks on public access to our Church and State website, and the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site. Since 26 May 2017, we have been recording Internet cuts to boot; see my blog post of 21 June 2017, Internet cuts: We pay £65 per month for BT Infinity but feel we are in a race against time to stay online (WITH UPDATE 2/4/2018 RE: 183rd Internet cut since 26 May 2017). Perhaps of particular importance in all this is the fact that in November 2017 Church and State topped more than 3 million hits over the previous eleven months and despite the even then far from level playing field."

2 April (12.36pm): 1,121 blocks on public access to our Church and State website since 26 July 2016 (89 blocks 2016; 871 blocks 2017; 161 blocks 2018). See my blog post of 16 January 2017, The blocks on public access to our Church and State website continue unabated (WITH UPDATE 2/4/2018 RE: 1,121st block since 26 July 2016). 183 blocks in the last three months of 2017 that included 7 blocks on 19 October; 59 blocks last month; 16 blocks last week; 2 blocks this week; 1 block so far today.

1. 810th 19 October 2017, 6.40am
2. 811th 19 October 2017, 12.14pm
3. 812th 19 October 2017, 2.03pm
4. 813th 19 October 2017, 5.13pm
5. 814th 19 October 2017, 7.18pm
6. 815th 19 October 2017, 8.22pm
7. 816th 19 October 2017, 10.54pm (7)
---------------------------------------------------
290. 1,099th 24 March 2018, 5.46am
291. 1,100th 24 March 2018, 7.15am
292. 1,101st 24 March 2018, 5.26pm
293. 1,102nd 24 March 2018, 8.15pm
294. 1,103rd 24 March 2018, 9.30pm (5)*
---------------------------------------------------
So far this week:
311. 1,120th 1 April 2018, 11.28pm (1)
312. 1,121st 2 April 2018, 11.03am (1) (so far today)

October 2017: 57 blocks
November 2017: 52 blocks
December 2017: 74 blocks
January 2018: 55 blocks
February 2018: 45 blocks
March 2018: 59 blocks
April 2018: 2 blocks (ongoing)

* This 1,103rd block occurred before Facebook's 35th block against Church and State since 1 December 2015; see my blog post of 7 December 2017, Fighting for survival in London: Facebook's 26th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015. Last month Church and State topped more than 3 million hits over the past year (WITH UPDATE 1/4/2018 RE: Block 35 DAY 9).

See The War on Free Expression by our honorary associate Flemming Rose (of Danish Cartoon Crisis fame), who is also one of our 13 authors.

Last night Facebook spammed yet another article from our Church and State website. And this, after a massive escalation of their blocks against Church and State last month (29 out of 31 days); see my blog post of 7 December 2017, Fighting for survival in London: Facebook's 26th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015. Last month Church and State topped more than 3 million hits over the past year (WITH UPDATE 1/4/2018 RE: Block 35 DAY 9). The article Facebook has spammed this time is titled "Death Should Be Optional", by John Messerly. Dr Messerly is one of our 13 authors. He received his PhD in philosophy in 1992. He has taught at St. Louis University and The University of Texas at Austin. He is currently an Affiliated member of the Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity Group localised at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, and an Affiliate Scholar of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Yesterday I let Facebook know that this superb transhumanist article is not spam, but this afternoon I am still confronted with this block:

pic.twitter.com/O9A4zKitVE
— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) April 2, 2018

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2018/03/death-should-be-optional/

We're well used to this sort of behaviour from Facebook. In addition to others mentioned in this blog, they have now targeted four of our authors in this way, including Paul Cliteur, a professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University and one of the Netherlands' leading public intellectuals. They have even spammed book excerpts from two of our authors; see my blog post of 30 January, Will Facebook spam every single excerpt from Mark Tier's When God Speaks for Himself? Today I am going to publish three excerpts from the award-winning author's book (WITH UPDATE - DAY 7 4/2/2018). Mark Tier, who recently agreed to be named on our Authors list, is an award-winning author and investor based in Hong Kong. This is how Facebook dealt with text from his fascinating book on the Bible earlier this year:

pic.twitter.com/C8VoqsXlCT
— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) January 30, 2018

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2018/01/the-words-of-god-youll-never-hear-in-church-or-sunday-school/

Update Summation 4 February 2018 (DAY 7)

The above excerpt spammed by Facebook on 29 January;
Restriction appealed by me on 29 January;
Restriction lifted by Facebook on 29 January;
Spammed by Facebook on 30 January as soon as I try again;
Restriction lifted by Facebook on 30 January;
Spammed by Facebook on 31 January as soon as I try again;
Restriction lifted by Facebook on 31 January;
Spammed by Facebook on 1 February as soon as I try again;
Restriction lifted by Facebook on 1 February;
Temporary block maintained by Facebook: 1-2 February;
Spammed by Facebook on 3 February as soon as I try again;
Restriction appealed by me on 3 February;
Restriction lifted by Facebook on 3 February;
Spammed by Facebook on 4 February as soon as I try again;
Restriction appealed by me on 4 February;
Restriction lifted by Facebook on 4 February.

Additional excerpts:
- 3 excerpts on 30 January: Temporary block on 1-2 February;
- 3 excerpts on 31 January: Temporary block on 1-2 February;
- 1 excerpt on 1 February: Temporary block on 1-2 February;
- 2 excerpts on 2 February: Temporary block on 2 February;
- 2 excerpts on 3 February: Spammed on 3 February.

Total number of excerpts from this book that I was blocked from posting to atheist groups on or before 4 February: 12

Is Edward Snowden a Hero or Criminal? This is a solid documentary called #Citizenfour that may influence your thinking either way:

JOIN THE CONVERSATION #CITIZENFOUR

From My Picks:

25 March (previous blog post): Threat to life: We have started our "threat to life" defence against the Greater London Authority. Facebook blocks against our Church and State website have massively escalated this month (WITH UPDATE 2/4/2018)

http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/

Church and State

MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE

(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)

1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).

3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).

4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.

5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.

"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Last updated: 26/06/21

_________________________

[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.

Church and State blog

Monday, April 02, 2018

This is the latest Church and State article by one of our 13 authors that Facebook has blocked because the transhumanist piece "looks like spam" to them

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