Church and State blog: Are we back to non-stop Internet cuts? We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE 25/10/2018)

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Are we back to non-stop Internet cuts? We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE 25/10/2018)

Last Sunday "Father of the Internet" and Google Vice President Vint Cerf joined us as an honorary associate.
http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/

We pay British Telecom, one of the world's leading communications services companies, £70 per month (£850 per year) for BT Infinity 2 fibre optic broadband. I have been recording our internet cuts as a BT customer since 26 May 2017. Declan has made countless phone calls to BT Customer Service and has dealt with BT Executive Level Complaints multiple times. Never has there been a fault with our phone line and our hub mysteriously rectified itself last August, to such an extent that we haven't yet installed the new hub we received that month as a matter of urgency.

These are the internet cuts since 1 May 2018:

184th 8 May 2018, 2.13pm (1/2 hour)
185th 9 May 2018, 6.31am
186th 9 May 2018, 9.51pm
187th 10 May 2018, 1.05am (1/2 hour)
188th 10 May 2018 12.37pm
189th 10 May 2018 5.18pm
190th 12 May 2018 12.53pm
191st 12 May 2018 11.44pm
192nd 14 May 2018 7.25pm (1/2 hour)
193rd 15 May 2018 11.33am (1/4 hour)
194th 15 May 2018 7.34pm
195th 19 May 2018 8.31am
196th 21 May 2018 5.59pm (1/2 hour)
197th 23 May 2018 1.22pm (1/4 hour)
198th 27 May 2018 2.01pm (1/4 hour)
199th 27 May 2018 8.32pm (1/4 hour)
200th 27 May 2018 11.19pm
201st 29 May 2018 9.46am (1/4 hour)
202nd 29 May 2018 11.48am (1/4 hour)
203rd 29 May 2018 8.11pm
204th 29 May 2018 9.37pm
205th 30 May 2018 9.33pm
206th 1 June 2018 6.02pm
207th 1 June 2018 7.18pm (1/4 hour)
208th 2 June 2018 5.03pm (1/4 hour)
209th 3 June 2018 2.32pm (1/4 hour)
210th 5 June 2018 11.43pm
211th 12 June 2018 9.15pm (1/4 hour)
212th 12 June 2018 11.30pm
213th 13 June 2018 3.35pm
214th 13 June 2018 7.51pm
215th 14 June 2018 11.22am
216th 14 June 2018 4.31pm
217th 15 June 2018 10.05am (1/4 hour)
218th 16 June 2018 6.02pm (1/4 hour)
219th 16 June 2018 9.47pm
220th 18 June 2018 2.00pm
221st 18 June 2018 4.50pm
222nd 18 June 2018 8.38pm
223rd 19 June 2018 8.36am
224th 19 June 2018 10.35am (1/4 hour)
225th 19 June 2018 12.36pm
226th 19 June 2018 5.33pm
227th 19 June 2018 7.32pm (1/4 hour)
228th 19 June 2018 9.33pm (1/4 hour)
229th 19 June 2018 10.01pm (7)
230th 21 June 2018 8.47am
231st 21 June 2018 1.32pm (1/4 hour)
232nd 21 June 2018 2.03pm (1/4 hour)
233rd 21 June 2018 7.37pm
234th 22 June 2018 10.16am
235th 23 June 2018 11.32am
236th 24 June 2018 11.35am
237th 25 June 2018 11.36pm
238th 27 June 2018 1.17pm (1/4 hour)
239th 27 June 2018 7.21pm (1/4 hour)
240th 28 June 2018 12.49pm
241st 28 June 2018 9.16pm (1/4 hour)
242nd 28 June 2018 9.47pm (1/4 hour)
243rd 29 June 2018 9.02am
244th 29 June 2018 8.47pm (1/4 hour)
245th 30 June 2018 10.02am (1/4 hour)
246th 1 July 2018 4.48pm
247th 2 July 2018 7.34pm (1/4 hour)
248th 2 July 2018 11.37pm
249th 3 July 2018 2.02pm (1/4 hour)
250th 4 July 2018 12.16am
251st 4 July 2018 10.06pm
252nd 4 July 2018 10.49pm
253rd 6 July 2018 11.46pm (3/4 hour)
254th 10 July 2018 12.04pm
255th 10 July 2018 1.32pm (1/4 hour)
256th 10 July 2018 6.19pm (1/4 hour)
257th 11 July 2018 1.21am
258th 11 July 2018 9.22am
259th 11 July 2018 12.02pm (1/4 hour)
260th 11 July 2018 11.47pm
261st 12 July 2018 1.01am
262nd 12 July 2018 2.31pm
263rd 13 July 2018 8.21pm
264th 13 July 2018 9.32pm
265th 19 July 2018 8.18am
266th 20 July 2018 12.17am
267th 20 July 2018 8.47am
268th 20 July 2018 4.01pm
269th 28 July 2018 8.39am (1/2 hour)
270th 29 July 2018 10.47am
271st 29 July 2018 11.46pm
272nd 9 August 2018 10.44pm (1/2 hour)
273rd 10 August 2018 11.03pm (1/2 hour)
274th 11 August 2018 2.01pm
275th 11 August 2018 6.05pm (1/4 hour)
276th 12 August 2018 2.16pm (1/4 hour)
277th 13 August 2018 11.32am (1/4 hour)
278th 13 August 2018 12.17pm
279th 13 August 2018 2.01pm (1/2 hour)
280th 14 August 2018 4.12pm
281st 14 August 2018 6.31pm (1/2 hour)
282nd 14 August 2018 10.01pm
283rd 16 August 2018 9.17pm (1 1/4 hours)
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16/8 (10.47pm) New hub ordered
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284th 17 August 2018 10.46am (1/2 hour)
285th 17 August 2018 12.16pm (3 1/4 hours)
286th 18 August 2018 12.06am
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19/8 (10.21am) New hub delivered
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287th 23 August 2018 12.11pm
288th 5 October 2018 8.36am
289th 24 October 2018 9.12pm

UPDATE

290th 25 October 2018 2.53pm
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25/10 (4.26pm) New hub yet to be installed
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Update Summation 25 October 2018

290 internet cuts since 26 May 2017 (173 cuts 2017; 117 cuts 2018). With an all-time record-equalling 7 cuts in one day on 19 June 2018 (in bold); 22 cuts last May that included on 8 May the 3rd ever 1/2 hour cut on the same day as Declan's updated complaint to the UN; 16 cuts last August that included on 17 August an all-time record-breaking cut of 3 1/4 hours; 3 cuts this month; 1 cut yesterday; 1 cut so far today (as of 25 October at 4.26pm).

May 2018: 22 cuts
June 2018 40 cuts
July 2018 26 cuts
August 2018: 16 cuts
September 2018: 0 cuts
October 2018: 3 cuts

7 July 2018: INTERNET CUTS: Are 45-minute Internet cuts to be the new norm? We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE 25/10/2018: re 290th Internet cut since 26 May 2017)

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

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Are we back to non-stop Internet cuts? We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE 25/10/2018)

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