Facebook: The social network's 51st block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015, and with no explanation as usual (WITH UPDATE - DAY 8 5/12/2018)

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

Ted Cruz asks if Facebook is a "neutral public forum". Mark Zuckerberg admits Silicon Valley is an "extremely left-leaning place" and claims he tries to make sure the company does not have a political bias. pic.twitter.com/gaWw7ORQDY

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) April 10, 2018

Facebook does not have a political bias? The social network's blocks against our Church and State website have gone from 47 days in 2017 - when we topped 3 million hits in the first 11 months despite the blocks - to 171 days so far this year (the equivalent of 5 1/2 months). Last March they blocked me from posting Church and State articles in groups four times (for 29 out of 31 days), and all without explanation. This month they have blocked me three times from doing the same (for a total of 19 days), and all without explanation. This evening I received this notification of their 51st block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015:



These notifications without an explanation come out of the blue. Perhaps next month will be another wipeout month from Facebook, and without an explanation being given.

Facebook blocks 2018 (in days)

January 2018: 16 days
February 2018: 15 days
March 2018: 29 days
April 2018: 17 days
May 2018: No blocks in May
June 2018: 14 days
July 2018: 17 days
August 2018: 11 days
September 2018: 12 days
October 2018: 16 days
November 2018: 19 days
December 2018: 5 days (until 5 December)
Total: 171 days

2 November: Fighting for survival in London: Facebook's concerted campaign against our Church and State website shows no signs of waning (WITH UPDATE 28/11/2018: re Block 51 DAY 1). This link reveals that we have been, and remain, under attack on a number of fronts. For example, besides the current assault on my primary laptop, the category pages on Church and State are under constant attack. As I point out in my earlier post about Royal Mail misdelivering our mail, the second article below has more than 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (not zero):



This article topped more than 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares a couple of weeks ago (tonight it stands at 556K and counting):


It's Time to Start Calling Evangelicals What They Are: The American Taliban

UPDATE 5 December (11.37am): I appealed this latest block from Facebook on Day 1. We are now into Day 8 without a response, as usual. On another front, Declan still does not know where he stands with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST); see my post of 16 November, St Mungo's: Declan reverts to data protection law in his dealings with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council (WITH UPDATE - DAY 17 5/12/2018). Only three months ago, this Greater London Authority-commissioned charity took Declan to the brink of his second court action against them in two years; see my post of 28 August, St Mungo's: Discrimination; Declan's claim against the Mayor of London's service for the Central London County Court. Still no response from St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair to Declan's pre-action letter (WITH UPDATE 30/8/2018).

'Independent' court scrutinising MI5 is located inside Home Office http://t.co/ZezpDipCPx via @guardian

— Ian Cobain (@IanCobain) March 5, 2014

Re: Investigatory Powers Tribunal

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) dismissed Declan's complaint against the secret services on papers in less than three weeks, on 1 September 2011, stating that it was "obviously unsustainable". This is paragraph 11 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

11. The IPT was created in October 2000 by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and given the power to investigate any complaints against GCHQ, MI5 or MI6, as well as complaints about surveillance operations mounted by the police or any other public bodies. The Guardian reported on 5 March 2014 that the tribunal, which claims to be completely independent of the UK Government, is secretly operating from a base within the Home Office, by which it is funded. The newspaper found that the IPT had investigated about 1,500 complaints and upheld only 10, five of which concerned members of one family who had all lodged complaints about surveillance by their local council. No complaint against any of the intelligence agencies had ever been upheld. The discovery that the IPT is lodged within a Whitehall department fuelled criticisms of the tribunal that had been levelled by rights groups, lawyers and complainants. The IPT's critics complain that the secrecy is excessive and that its procedures are stacked so heavily in favour of the government and against complainants that it is fundamentally unfair. According to The Guardian, some senior lawyers have described the IPT as "Kafkaesque", while one eminent barrister has dismissed it as a "kangaroo court". The newspaper also reports that because of the secrecy surrounding the tribunal and the perception that it is unfair, many would-be complainants spurn it.

Click to enlarge

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:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour

The assault on my primary laptop runs into a record-breaking fourth week (WITH UPDATE - DAY 85 25/1/2019)

This is a splendid posting which in its moderate and modest tone should encourage many others to join you!!
http://churchandstate.org.uk/about/
-Don Collins, President of ISAF, an NGO dedicated to helping women

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).

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population." Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).

British Telecom is one of the world's leading communications services companies. Declan pays BT £70 per month (£850 per year) for Superfast Fibre 2 Unlimited broadband (average speed 67Mb). We're well used to particular laptops being targeted with little or no internet speed, usually Declan's primary laptop; see my post of 9 August, British Telecom: Are drastically reduced internet speeds and 45-minute internet cuts to be the new norm? Declan has made countless phone calls to BT Customer Service and has dealt with BT Executive Level Complaints on multiple occasions. Now, since Facebook's 49th block against our Church and State website on 2 November (see here), I have been posting that it has been once again my primary laptop that has been targeted. For only three out of the last 26 days have I had normal internet speeds (usually we have an internet speed of about 70Mb across four laptops). Declan has no such problem on his primary laptop. Today has been quite typical for me:

Re: Targeting of individual laptops (in bold)

Paragraph 41 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

41. In October 2017, SiteGround's solicitors told the Applicant to remove a popular article from the Church and State website for alleged copyright infringement or the site would be disabled by SiteGround pending his legal challenge by counter notice. The Applicant removed the article even though it had a Creative Commons licence applied to it, as do all Addicting Info articles. The Applicant's wife's Church and State blog has been attacked in various ways over the years: links have been broken and images exchanged, deleted or temporarily removed. So too have the Applicant and his wife's computers. In December 2015, the Applicant's wife's laptop was rendered incapable of publishing material on the Church and State website. She could not create a WordPress post, add images, or click on most of the platform's buttons. She had posted a video of the attack on her blog before the laptop was returned to normal functioning the following afternoon. Since September 2017, the internet connection speed on any one of their four laptops has been reduced from anything between 70-74Mbps to 0Mbps, usually disabling the targeted laptop, and for up to three weeks to date. The laptop most targeted for this form of attack is the Applicant's main laptop that cost him £600 in January 2017 (emphasis added). Their internet connection has been cut 184 times since 26 May 2017, most recently today on 8 May 2018 for a half an hour (the third cut of this duration). The Applicant pays British Telecom £850 per year for broadband. He has documented communication with BT Executive Level Complaints showing there has been no problem with his phone line.

UPDATE 25 January (11.37am): The previous record for this sort of attack is three weeks on Declan's primary laptop. This time around, my primary laptop has been messed about for 3 months (85 days), and Declan's primary laptop for going on two months (49 days). Last night my internet speed was 6Mb. On 12 January I posted a blog showing some of the awful speeds I am getting week in week out now; see my post of 12 January, The assault on our two primary laptops runs into a record-breaking sixth week. My primary laptop has been messed about for over ten weeks (WITH UPDATE 25/1/2019). This week, as has become the norm, I have only gone over 70Mb a handful of times. We are currently experiencing Facebook's 54th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015; see my post of 18 January, Facebook: The social network's 54th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015, and with no explanation as usual (WITH UPDATE - DAY 8 25/1/2019). Declan's primary laptop has been targeted to a lesser extent than mine since the day Facebook's 52nd block kicked off on 8 December 2018. Never before have we had our two primary laptops separately under attack in this way throughout the day (and every day all week, week in week out). From our point of view, given the excessive duration of this form of attack, and as a serious invasion of privacy, this ongoing targeting of individual laptops is at least as criminal as the removal of our flat door in 2012. (It was the Independent Police Complaints Commission's finding on that occasion that since our then live-in landlady had subsequently signed an undertaking to the County Court promising not to harass us, there was no requirement for the Metropolitan Police to take further action.)


Yesterday we were disconnected from the internet through our BT router for the 298th time since 26 May 2017, and we have treated our second BT YouView box for TV viewing as a virtual write-off since the day after we received it on 8 September 2017. The ridiculous and persistent fluctuating bandwidths we get through our BT YouView box - or the more extreme disconnection of the box from the internet whilst we are already connected online through the router - is a constant reminder that non-stop internet cuts through our BT router can kick off at any time with cuts that can last for hours, the longest being 3 1/4 hours on 16 August.

Internet cuts (since 26 May 2017)

173 cuts 2017
122 cuts 2018
Since May 2018*
- May 2018: 22 cuts
- June 2018 40 cuts
- July 2018 26 cuts
- August 2018: 16 cuts
- September 2018: 0 cuts
- October 2018: 3 cuts
- November 2018: 1 cut
- December 2018: 4 cuts
3 cuts 2019

* All cuts on old BT router (including in 2019). We have yet to install the BT router we received on 19 August 2018. The bandwidth on our 2nd BT YouView box is seldom enough to watch a various number of TV channels (and because of this, our TV usually operates off our TV aerial or our TV viewing restricted to the BBC iPlayer, i.e., when players and apps have not also been disabled, as has occurred five times since 10 December 2018 and for up to one day at a time). The fluctuating bandwidth on our 2nd BT YouView box – or the more extreme disconnection of the box from the internet whilst we are already connected online through the router - has been from the day after we received the box on 8 September 2017, and remains, a constant reminder with respect to whichever BT router we choose to use for our laptops.

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 24/1/2019: re 298th Internet cut since 26 May 2017).

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:

10 January: Pre-Action Letter: The Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's hold communication notes against Declan in clear violation of his rights (WITH UPDATE 24/1/2019)

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty

http://churchandstate.org.uk/about/

Four blocks on access to our Church and State website already this morning, and it's only 10.16am. Still nothing from the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST

UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population." Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).

We are still waiting to hear from the Mayor of London's St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST); see my post of 16 November, St Mungo's: Declan reverts to data protection law in his dealings with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council (WITH UPDATE - DAY 6 21/11/2018). We are currently experiencing Facebook's 50th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015; see my post of 15 November, Facebook: The social network's 50th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015, and with no explanation as usual (WITH UPDATE - DAY 7 21/11/2018). And blocks on access to our Church and State website have kicked off again too. This week our web host, SiteGround, has recorded six such blocks. (SiteGround is paid $1,000 per year to host Church and State and manage the server.) This morning we have already had four of these blocks, and it's not even 10.30am!

Last week:
1,394th 11 November 2018, 4.15pm
1,395th 12 November 2018, 12.05pm
1,396th 13 November 2018, 1.54am
1,397th 15 November 2018, 6.54pm
1,398th 17 November 2018, 1.30am
1,399th 17 November 2018, 6.18pm
1,400th 17 November 2018, 9.12pm
1,401st 17 November 2018, 9.23pm
1,402nd 17 November 2018, 9.26pm
1,403rd 17 November 2018, 9.28pm
1,404th 17 November 2018, 10.26pm (7)
This week:
1,405th 18 November 2018, 7.40pm
1,406th 19 November 2018, 12.09am
1,407th 21 November 2018, 1.07am
1,408th 21 November 2018, 3.27am
1,409th 21 November 2018, 9.03am
1,410th 21 November 2018, 10.13am (4)

27 June 2018: SITE BLOCKS: The blocks on access to our Church and State website continue unabated (WITH UPDATE 21/11/2018: re 1,410th block since 26 July 2016)

Re: Blocks on access to Church and State (in bold)

Paragraph 37 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

37. St. Mungo's has not been the only stumbling block for the Applicant and his wife during the last two-year period of their tenancy. They are convinced that if they did not have the status of clients of the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative programme and housing association accommodation, they would have long been given notice to vacate. These are some examples (by no means exhaustive) that shed light on the high levels of persecution and opposition they have experienced during this period of their tenancy:

(i) After receiving a newsletter from Active Newham that sought volunteer befrienders for older or isolated residents in the community, the Applicant applied on 3 June 2016 to become a volunteer befriender. On 20 July 2016, following the intervention of his local councillor, he met with three senior officials from Newham Council. It is a matter of written record that he was told at this meeting that he would be informed of the date of the next befriending training session, however this has never happened. The Applicant has made several complaints of discrimination against Newham Council on the matter. All have fallen on deaf ears, even though he has recommendations for care work, one of which is written by a retired American physician, then based in London, who received his MD from Harvard Medical School (see Annex 18, p. 46).

(ii) Newham Council has twice suspended the Applicant's Housing Benefit following false notifications from the Department for Work and Pensions that he and his wife had vacated. The first notification, in October 2016, triggered a full-blown investigation by Newham Benefits Service. The Applicant produced a paginated bundle of 57 pages and additional documents and was interrogated for over an hour and a half by a senior council tax and benefits officer before the benefit was de-suspended. The second notification took effect the week before the Applicant's court hearing against St. Mungo's on 20 February 2017, and the benefit was only de-suspended the day after the hearing. The Applicant hasn't even been able to secure his and his wife's address from misconduct by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff, despite several high-level complaints related in part to an unauthorised update to their address by HMRC on 11 July 2017.

(iii) Facebook has waged a concerted campaign against the Applicant and his wife's Church and State website, which escalated in March 2018 with four blocks against the site for a total of 29 out of 31 days (see para. 40 below). There have also been 1,180 blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016 due to internal error notifications that render the site inaccessible for generally one or two minutes (see para. 39 below) – a leading web hosting company, SiteGround, is paid $1,000 per year to host the site and manage the server. And the Applicant and his wife's home internet access – for which the Applicant pays Britain's leading telecommunications company, British Telecom, £850 per year – has been cut 184 times since 26 May 2017 (see para. 41 below). Despite all of this, in November 2017 the Church and State website topped more than 3 million hits over the previous eleven months.

And the assault on my primary laptop has now gone one day shy of a record-equalling three weeks:


7 November: My laptop has been targeted since 2 November. We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE - DAY 19 20/11/2018)



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

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour


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

St Mungo's: No quick response to Declan's Subject Access Request. And all my images hosted by TinyPic are not showing on this Blog again tonight (WITH UPDATE 21/11/2018)

Declan taught PE in one of Ireland's top schools (Glenstal Abbey) and recently acquired a UK Athletics coaching licence. He is also Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) cleared to work with children and adults.

"UPDATE 2 November (5.12pm): This evening the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST agreed to ensuring that the following information will be uploaded verbatim to their organisation's information system: '... For over two years, Declan has been fighting without success to secure a long-term volunteer position through Newham Council's Active Newham. Declan has made several complaints of unfair treatment against the Council, culminating in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).'"

1 November 2018: UK Athletics: The club secretary for Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club tells Declan that the volunteering opportunity he has seen on Newham Council's Active Newham bulletin is incorrect and out of date (WITH UPDATE 2/11/2018)

Declan and I are tenants of the Clearing House, which is run by St Mungo's on behalf of the Mayor of London. For almost four months earlier this year, we battled St Mungo's to stabilise our tenancy; see my post of 28 August, St Mungo's: Discrimination; Declan's claim against the Mayor of London's service for the Central London County Court. Still no response from St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair to Declan's pre-action letter (WITH UPDATE 30/8/2018). (All my images hosted by TinyPic are not showing on this Blog again tonight.) Last week Declan reverted to data protection law in his dealings with this charity for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council (see further below). Declan emailed and mailed this Subject Access Request (SAR) last Friday and so today counts as Day 5 following receipt:

Robert Buck
TST North Service Manager
St Mungo's
16 Nevill Road
London
N16 8SR

16 November 2018


Dear Mr Buck

Subject access request

Please supply the data about me that I am entitled to under data protection law relating to my meetings with your colleagues, including those notes from my meeting with Marc Appleton on 30 October 2018 at my home.

On 2 November 2018, Mr Appleton agreed to ensuring that agreed upon notes from our meeting would be uploaded forthwith to your organisation's information system. For your convenient reference, I enclose a copy of my recent email thread containing those agreed upon notes.

If you need any more data from me, or a fee, please let me know as soon as possible. It may be helpful for you to know that data protection law requires you to respond to a request for data within one calendar month.

If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your Data Protection Officer, or relevant staff member. If you need advice on dealing with this request, the Information Commissioner's Office can assist you. Its website is ico.org.uk or it can be contacted on 0303 123 1113.

Yours sincerely

Declan Heavey

Ombudsman Case ID: 18011204

1. What do you think the body did wrong?

On 11 September 2018, I lodged a Stage 1 complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council. Head of Customer Services Ron Springer has ignored my complaint against the Council, referring it instead to another party.

On 27 September 2018, I wrote to Mr Springer (cc'd to his CEO) requesting the Council's final response letter within 14 days. I made clear in this correspondence that the fault complained of lies with Newham Council not another party but have received nothing back from the Council.

I believe that Mr Springer's failure to provide me with a final response letter in a timely manner constitutes a clear breach of the Council's complaint handling protocol and procedures.

2. How has this affected you?

Newham Council has referred my complaint to Active Newham. I have tried to get a resolution to my complaint from this party but to no avail. I have suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the Council.

I am currently housed within a Clearing House property, which is part of the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. The initiative is designed to prevent rough sleeping, sustain tenancies and work with former rough sleepers to greater independence.

Access and support into voluntary roles is a common and successful route for many Clearing House clients to gain access into paid work, gaining valuable experience and improving or maintaining self-esteem; whilst also building valuable links and contribution to their local community.

For over two years, as a direct result of the actions or inactions of senior management at Newham Council, I have been effectively barred from being able to work/volunteer on a long-term basis with any of the organisations associated with Active Newham within the London Borough of Newham. Such a decision will have an impact on me being further independent and will impact on the sustainment of my tenancy in the long term, thereby posing a threat to life. (I am an asthmatic with a history of bronchitis and pneumonia.)

In light of the above, and the serious distress caused as a direct result of the actions or inactions of senior management at Newham Council, I hereby request the assistance of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

3. What do you think the body should do to put things right?

Newham Council should issue a final response letter that explains their final decision to refer the matter to another party and details my rights to refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if I wish.

Declan Heavey
18 October 2018

UPDATE 21 November (9.48am): My TinyPic images are back! Last Friday, following receipt of Declan's SAR, St Mungo's TST confirmed that agreed upon notes have been "uploaded and saved". However, Declan is still waiting to be provided with a copy of these notes (Day 6). Amazingly, within one hour of receiving this confirmation from St Mungo's TST, Declan heard from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) about a complaint he made back in August about case notes St Mungo's Executive Director Dominic Williamson assured the court last year had been rectified by him but were in fact being held under my name (ICO Case ID: RFA0779534). At the time I wrote in my then post update: "It never occurred to Declan to ask Williamson in court last year whether or not he had also rectified the same data under my name. But the cat is out of the bag now and the issue is currently on a very swift journey back to the Central London County Court." That did the trick three months ago, after I published in that post Declan's claim for filing in the court early the following week. On 2 November St Mungo's TST agreed to ensuring that the following information would be uploaded verbatim to their organisation's information system:

Declan has a part-time job as an employee of Network for Church Monitoring. This is his main job. He is a former PE teacher and now holds a valid UK Athletics coaching licence with associated DBS. He wants a second part-time job with children, having given up on care work.

For over two years, Declan has been fighting without success to secure a long-term volunteer position through Newham Council's Active Newham. Declan has made several complaints of unfair treatment against the Council, culminating in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).

For the last two months, Declan has been doing one-off events with Active Newham with a view to securing a long-term volunteer position working with children. He is scheduled to participate in his fifth one-off event with Active Newham on Saturday, 3 November.

Declan has requested a copy of the action notes from our meetings in the form of a download from the organisation's information system.

Declan has requested my support to elicit concrete information from the Bromley by Bow Centre with respect to their next Para-Legacy Agents 12-15 week training course.

Actions:

By Friday, 2 November 2018 Marc (TST Caseworker) to contact Declan about emailing the Bromley by Bow Centre.

Declan to continue with his one-off events with Active Newham.

From My Picks:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour


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

We are back to non-stop blocks on access to our Church and State website (WITH UPDATE 19/11/2018)

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).

UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population." Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).

We are currently experiencing Facebook's 50th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015; see my post of 15 November, Facebook: The social network's 50th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015, and with no explanation as usual (WITH UPDATE - DAY 3 17/11/2018). Now it appears that blocks on access to our Church and State website have kicked off again too. This week our web host, SiteGround, recorded 11 such blocks. (SiteGround is paid $1,000 per year to host Church and State and manage the server.) Today we have already had seven of these blocks, and this is the last day of the week!

This week:
1,394th 11 November 2018, 4.15pm
1,395th 12 November 2018, 12.05pm
1,396th 13 November 2018, 1.54am
1,397th 15 November 2018, 6.54pm
1,398th 17 November 2018, 1.30am
1,399th 17 November 2018, 6.18pm
1,400th 17 November 2018, 9.12pm
1,401st 17 November 2018, 9.23pm
1,402nd 17 November 2018, 9.26pm
1,403rd 17 November 2018, 9.28pm
1,404th 17 November 2018, 10.26pm (7)

UPDATES

1,405th 18 November 2018, 7.40pm
1,406th 19 November 2018, 12.09am

Update Summation 19 November 2018

1,406 blocks on access to our Church and State website since 26 July 2016 (89 blocks 2016; 871 blocks 2017; 446 blocks 2018); 53 blocks last May that included 6 blocks on 8 May, the same day as Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations; 42 blocks last month that included an all-time record-breaking 13 blocks on 2 October; 19 blocks this month; 11 blocks last week that included 7 blocks on 17 November; 1 block so far today (as of 19 November at 11.12am).

January 2018: 55 blocks
February 2018: 45 blocks
March 2018: 59 blocks
April 2018: 42 blocks
May 2018: 53 blocks
June 2018: 38 blocks
July 2018: 31 blocks
August 2018: 28 blocks
September 2018: 34 blocks
October 2018: 42 blocks
November 2018: 19 blocks

27 June 2018: SITE BLOCKS: The blocks on access to our Church and State website continue unabated (WITH UPDATE 19/11/2018: re 1,406th block since 26 July 2016)

And there's the ongoing assault on my primary laptop:


7 November 2018: My laptop has been targeted since 2 November. We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE - DAY 18 19/11/2018)

Re: Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)

Paragraph 12 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

12. It is important to underscore that the discriminatory surveillance suffered by the Applicant and his wife is not an isolated event. Rather, it is emblematic of a larger pattern of surveillance by law enforcement officials in the UK that has been well-documented by international and domestic human rights bodies. For example, GCHQ's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) specialises in the "4 D's": deny, disrupt, degrade, deceive. It has been branded by the press as the spy agency's "deception unit". Though its existence was secret until 2014, JTRIG has developed a distinctive profile in the public understanding, after documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the unit had engaged in "dirty tricks" like deploying sexual "honey traps" designed to discredit targets, launching denial-of-service attacks to shut down Internet chat rooms, pushing veiled propaganda onto social networks and generally warping discourse online. Previous reporting on GCHQ established its focus on what it regards as political radicalism. Beyond JTRIG's targeting of Anonymous, other parts of GCHQ targeted political activists and groups deemed to be "radical", even monitoring human rights NGOs. Simon Davies, founder of the London-based Privacy International, asks: "If spying on human rights NGOs isn't off limits for GCHQ, then what is?"

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

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour


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

St Mungo's: Declan reverts to data protection law in his dealings with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council (WITH UPDATE - DAY 31 19/12/2018)

This is a splendid posting which in its moderate and modest tone should encourage many others to join you!!
http://churchandstate.org.uk/about/
-Don Collins, President of ISAF, an NGO dedicated to helping women

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).

Declan taught PE in one of Ireland's top schools (Glenstal Abbey) and recently acquired a UK Athletics coaching licence. He is also Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) cleared to work with children and adults.

"UPDATE 2 November (5.12pm): This evening the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST agreed to ensuring that the following information will be uploaded verbatim to their organisation's information system: '... For over two years, Declan has been fighting without success to secure a long-term volunteer position through Newham Council's Active Newham. Declan has made several complaints of unfair treatment against the Council, culminating in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).'"

1 November 2018: UK Athletics: The club secretary for Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club tells Declan that the volunteering opportunity he has seen on Newham Council's Active Newham bulletin is incorrect and out of date (WITH UPDATE 2/11/2018)

Declan and I are tenants of the Clearing House, which is run by St Mungo's on behalf of the Mayor of London. For almost four months earlier this year, we battled St Mungo's to stabilise our tenancy; see my post of 28 August, St Mungo's: Discrimination; Declan's claim against the Mayor of London's service for the Central London County Court. Still no response from St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair to Declan's pre-action letter (WITH UPDATE 30/8/2018). Now Declan has reverted to data protection law in his dealings with this charity for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council (see further below). Declan has just emailed and mailed this Subject Access Request and so Monday counts as Day 1 (starting the first working day after they received the request):

Robert Buck
TST North Service Manager
St Mungo's
16 Nevill Road
London
N16 8SR

16 November 2018


Dear Mr Buck

Subject access request

[Personal details to help identification withheld]

Please supply the data about me that I am entitled to under data protection law relating to my meetings with your colleagues, including those notes from my meeting with Marc Appleton on 30 October 2018 at my home.

On 2 November 2018, Mr Appleton agreed to ensuring that agreed upon notes from our meeting would be uploaded forthwith to your organisation's information system. For your convenient reference, I enclose a copy of my recent email thread containing those agreed upon notes.

If you need any more data from me, or a fee, please let me know as soon as possible. It may be helpful for you to know that data protection law requires you to respond to a request for data within one calendar month.

If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your Data Protection Officer, or relevant staff member. If you need advice on dealing with this request, the Information Commissioner's Office can assist you. Its website is ico.org.uk or it can be contacted on 0303 123 1113.

Yours sincerely

Declan Heavey

Ombudsman Case ID: 18011204

1. What do you think the body did wrong?

On 11 September 2018, I lodged a Stage 1 complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council. Head of Customer Services Ron Springer has ignored my complaint against the Council, referring it instead to another party.

On 27 September 2018, I wrote to Mr Springer (cc'd to his CEO) requesting the Council's final response letter within 14 days. I made clear in this correspondence that the fault complained of lies with Newham Council not another party but have received nothing back from the Council.

I believe that Mr Springer's failure to provide me with a final response letter in a timely manner constitutes a clear breach of the Council's complaint handling protocol and procedures.

2. How has this affected you?

Newham Council has referred my complaint to Active Newham. I have tried to get a resolution to my complaint from this party but to no avail. I have suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the Council.

I am currently housed within a Clearing House property, which is part of the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. The initiative is designed to prevent rough sleeping, sustain tenancies and work with former rough sleepers to greater independence.

Access and support into voluntary roles is a common and successful route for many Clearing House clients to gain access into paid work, gaining valuable experience and improving or maintaining self-esteem; whilst also building valuable links and contribution to their local community.

For over two years, as a direct result of the actions or inactions of senior management at Newham Council, I have been effectively barred from being able to work/volunteer on a long-term basis with any of the organisations associated with Active Newham within the London Borough of Newham. Such a decision will have an impact on me being further independent and will impact on the sustainment of my tenancy in the long term, thereby posing a threat to life. (I am an asthmatic with a history of bronchitis and pneumonia.)

In light of the above, and the serious distress caused as a direct result of the actions or inactions of senior management at Newham Council, I hereby request the assistance of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

3. What do you think the body should do to put things right?

Newham Council should issue a final response letter that explains their final decision to refer the matter to another party and details my rights to refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if I wish.

Declan Heavey
18 October 2018

UPDATE 19 December (4.35pm): This is day 31. Under data protection law, St Mungo's are obliged to provide Declan with the full version of the data he has requested by close of business today (i.e., within the next 25 minutes). Will I still be updating this post tomorrow? See my newer post yesterday, Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's: Data Tampering - Information Commissioner's Office Case Reference RFA0779534. On 16 November, following receipt of Declan's request for information above, his St Mungo's TST caseworker advised in relation to their meeting on 30 October that "agreed upon notes uploaded and saved". Amazingly, within one hour of receiving this confirmation, Declan heard from the Information Commissioner's Office about a complaint he made back in August about case notes St Mungo's Executive Director Dominic Williamson assured the court last year had been rectified by him but were in fact being held under my name. At the time I wrote in my then post update: "It never occurred to Declan to ask Williamson in court last year whether or not he had also rectified the same data under my name. But the cat is out of the bag now and the issue is currently on a very swift journey back to the Central London County Court." That did the trick less than four months ago, after I published in that post Declan's claim for filing in the court early the following week. This is Declan's email to Williamson a couple of days ago:

Attention: Subject Access Request - Immediate Action Required (Reminder 3)

Dominic Williamson
Executive Director of Strategy and Policy
St Mungo’s

Address removed for email


17 December 2018

Dear Mr Williamson,

Further to my two previous Subject Access Request reminders, I wish to bring to your attention that St Mungo's has a legal requirement to respond to me within one calendar month (i.e., starting the day after you received the attached SAR letter). I should, therefore, receive my data by Wednesday 19 December at the very latest.

Yours sincerely,

Declan Heavey

Almost seven weeks ago, on 2 November, Declan's St Mungo's TST caseworker confirmed that the following agreed upon notes from their meeting on 30 October would be uploaded verbatim to the charity's information system:

Declan and I met for the first time at his home today at 3pm on 30th October. During our meeting we discussed the following:

- Declan has a part-time job as an employee of Network for Church Monitoring. This is his main job. He is a former PE teacher and now holds a valid UK Athletics coaching licence with associated DBS. He wants a second part-time job with children, having given up on care work.

- For over two years, Declan has been fighting without success to secure a long-term volunteer position through Newham Council's Active Newham. Declan has made several complaints of unfair treatment against the Council, culminating in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).

- For the last two months, Declan has been doing one-off events with Active Newham with a view to securing a long-term volunteer position working with children. He is scheduled to participate in his fifth one-off event with Active Newham on Saturday, 3 November.

- Declan has requested a copy of the action notes from our meetings in the form of a download from the organisation's information system.

- Declan has requested my support to elicit concrete information from the Bromley by Bow Centre with respect to their next Para-Legacy Agents 12-15 week training course.

Actions:

By Friday, 2 November 2018 Marc (TST Caseworker) to contact Declan about emailing the Bromley by Bow Centre.

Declan to continue with his one-off events with Active Newham.

From My Picks:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour


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

Facebook: The social network's 50th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015, and with no explanation as usual (WITH UPDATE - DAY 8 22/11/2018)

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

Ted Cruz asks if Facebook is a "neutral public forum". Mark Zuckerberg admits Silicon Valley is an "extremely left-leaning place" and claims he tries to make sure the company does not have a political bias. pic.twitter.com/gaWw7ORQDY

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) April 10, 2018

Facebook does not have a political bias? The social network's blocks against our Church and State website have gone from 47 days in 2017 - when we topped 3 million hits in the first 11 months despite the blocks - to 163 days so far this year (the equivalent of 5 1/2 months). Last March they blocked me from posting Church and State articles in groups four times (for 29 out of 31 days), and all without explanation. This evening I received this notification of their 50th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015:



These notifications without an explanation come out of the blue. Perhaps this will be another wipeout month from Facebook, and without an explanation being given.

Facebook blocks (in days)

January 2018: 16 days
February 2018: 15 days
March 2018: 29 days
April 2018: 17 days
May 2018: No blocks in May
June 2018: 14 days
July 2018: 17 days
August 2018: 11 days
September 2018: 12 days
October 2018: 16 days
November 2018: 16 days (until 22 November)
Total: 163 days

2 November: Fighting for survival in London: Facebook's concerted campaign against our Church and State website shows no signs of waning (WITH UPDATE 15/11/2018: re Block 50 DAY 1). This link reveals that we have been, and remain, under attack on a number of fronts. For example, the category pages on Church and State are under constant attack. As I point out in my earlier post about Royal Mail misdelivering our mail, the second article below has more than 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (not zero):



Yesterday this article topped more than 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (this evening it stands at 529K and counting):


It's Time to Start Calling Evangelicals What They Are: The American Taliban

UPDATE 22 November (11.37am): I appealed this latest block from Facebook, but to no avail. On another front, Declan still does not know where he stands with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST); see my newer post of 16 November, St Mungo's: Declan reverts to data protection law in his dealings with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council (WITH UPDATE - DAY 7 22/11/2018). Only three months ago, this Greater London Authority-commissioned charity took Declan to the brink of his second court action against them in two years; see my post of 28 August, St Mungo's: Discrimination; Declan's claim against the Mayor of London's service for the Central London County Court. Still no response from St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair to Declan's pre-action letter (WITH UPDATE 30/8/2018).

'Independent' court scrutinising MI5 is located inside Home Office http://t.co/ZezpDipCPx via @guardian

— Ian Cobain (@IanCobain) March 5, 2014

Re: Investigatory Powers Tribunal

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) dismissed Declan's complaint against the secret services on papers in less than three weeks, on 1 September 2011, stating that it was "obviously unsustainable". This is paragraph 11 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

11. The IPT was created in October 2000 by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and given the power to investigate any complaints against GCHQ, MI5 or MI6, as well as complaints about surveillance operations mounted by the police or any other public bodies. The Guardian reported on 5 March 2014 that the tribunal, which claims to be completely independent of the UK Government, is secretly operating from a base within the Home Office, by which it is funded. The newspaper found that the IPT had investigated about 1,500 complaints and upheld only 10, five of which concerned members of one family who had all lodged complaints about surveillance by their local council. No complaint against any of the intelligence agencies had ever been upheld. The discovery that the IPT is lodged within a Whitehall department fuelled criticisms of the tribunal that had been levelled by rights groups, lawyers and complainants. The IPT's critics complain that the secrecy is excessive and that its procedures are stacked so heavily in favour of the government and against complainants that it is fundamentally unfair. According to The Guardian, some senior lawyers have described the IPT as "Kafkaesque", while one eminent barrister has dismissed it as a "kangaroo court". The newspaper also reports that because of the secrecy surrounding the tribunal and the perception that it is unfair, many would-be complainants spurn it.

Click to enlarge

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:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour

Will Declan have to fight the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council?

Declan taught PE in one of Ireland's top schools (Glenstal Abbey) and recently acquired a UK Athletics coaching licence. He is also Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) cleared to work with children and adults.

"UPDATE 2 November (5.12pm): This evening the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST agreed to ensuring that the following information will be uploaded verbatim to their organisation's information system: '... For over two years, Declan has been fighting without success to secure a long-term volunteer position through Newham Council's Active Newham. Declan has made several complaints of unfair treatment against the Council, culminating in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).'"

1 November 2018: UK Athletics: The club secretary for Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club tells Declan that the volunteering opportunity he has seen on Newham Council's Active Newham bulletin is incorrect and out of date (WITH UPDATE 2/11/2018)

This evening the internet connection on my primary laptop has dropped to 4Mb and I can barely open a page; see my previous blog post of 7 November, My laptop has been targeted since 2 November. We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE - DAY 13 14/11/2018). Immediately before this drop from 7Mb to 4Mb (we usually have an internet connection of over 70Mb across four laptops), Declan emailed the Mayor of London's St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST). He does not know if he will have to revert to data protection law to ensure the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council that has culminated in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).

14 November 2018

Dear Marc,

Can you please tell me whether or not the agreed upon notes below from our first meeting on 30 October have been uploaded to your organisation's information system?

Best regards,

Declan Heavey

On 2 November the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST agreed to ensuring that the following information will be uploaded verbatim to their organisation's information system:

Declan has a part-time job as an employee of Network for Church Monitoring. This is his main job. He is a former PE teacher and now holds a valid UK Athletics coaching licence with associated DBS. He wants a second part-time job with children, having given up on care work.

For over two years, Declan has been fighting without success to secure a long-term volunteer position through Newham Council's Active Newham. Declan has made several complaints of unfair treatment against the Council, culminating in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).

For the last two months, Declan has been doing one-off events with Active Newham with a view to securing a long-term volunteer position working with children. He is scheduled to participate in his fifth one-off event with Active Newham on Saturday, 3 November.

Declan has requested a copy of the action notes from our meetings in the form of a download from the organisation's information system.

Declan has requested my support to elicit concrete information from the Bromley by Bow Centre with respect to their next Para-Legacy Agents 12-15 week training course.

Actions:

By Friday, 2 November 2018 Marc (TST Caseworker) to contact Declan about emailing the Bromley by Bow Centre.

Declan to continue with his one-off events with Active Newham.

Ombudsman Case ID: 18011204

1. What do you think the body did wrong?

On 11 September 2018, I lodged a Stage 1 complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council. Head of Customer Services Ron Springer has ignored my complaint against the Council, referring it instead to another party.

On 27 September 2018, I wrote to Mr Springer (cc'd to his CEO) requesting the Council's final response letter within 14 days. I made clear in this correspondence that the fault complained of lies with Newham Council not another party but have received nothing back from the Council.

I believe that Mr Springer's failure to provide me with a final response letter in a timely manner constitutes a clear breach of the Council's complaint handling protocol and procedures.

2. How has this affected you?

Newham Council has referred my complaint to Active Newham. I have tried to get a resolution to my complaint from this party but to no avail. I have suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the Council.

I am currently housed within a Clearing House property, which is part of the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. The initiative is designed to prevent rough sleeping, sustain tenancies and work with former rough sleepers to greater independence.

Access and support into voluntary roles is a common and successful route for many Clearing House clients to gain access into paid work, gaining valuable experience and improving or maintaining self-esteem; whilst also building valuable links and contribution to their local community.

For over two years, as a direct result of the actions or inactions of senior management at Newham Council, I have been effectively barred from being able to work/volunteer on a long-term basis with any of the organisations associated with Active Newham within the London Borough of Newham. Such a decision will have an impact on me being further independent and will impact on the sustainment of my tenancy in the long term, thereby posing a threat to life. (I am an asthmatic with a history of bronchitis and pneumonia.)

In light of the above, and the serious distress caused as a direct result of the actions or inactions of senior management at Newham Council, I hereby request the assistance of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

3. What do you think the body should do to put things right?

Newham Council should issue a final response letter that explains their final decision to refer the matter to another party and details my rights to refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if I wish.

Declan Heavey
18 October 2018

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

My laptop has been targeted since 2 November. We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE - DAY 26 27/11/2018)

This is a splendid posting which in its moderate and modest tone should encourage many others to join you!!
http://churchandstate.org.uk/about/
-Don Collins, President of ISAF, an NGO dedicated to helping women

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).

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population." Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).

British Telecom is one of the world's leading communications services companies. Declan pays BT £70 per month (£850 per year) for Superfast Fibre 2 Unlimited broadband (average speed 67Mb). We're well used to particular laptops being targeted with little or no internet speed, usually Declan's primary laptop; see my post of 9 August, British Telecom: Are drastically reduced internet speeds and 45-minute internet cuts to be the new norm? Now, since Facebook's 49th block against our Church and State website last Friday (see here), it is once again my primary laptop. Not for the first time, tonight my broadband speeds have hit rock bottom. Declan has had no such problem on either of his two laptops.



On my primary laptop, I have to wait several minutes for a page to fully load:



We usually have an internet speed of about 70Mb across four laptops.

British Telecom in bold

Paragraph 41 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

41. In October 2017, SiteGround's solicitors told the Applicant to remove a popular article from the Church and State website for alleged copyright infringement or the site would be disabled by SiteGround pending his legal challenge by counter notice. The Applicant removed the article even though it had a Creative Commons licence applied to it, as do all Addicting Info articles. The Applicant's wife's Church and State blog has been attacked in various ways over the years: links have been broken and images exchanged, deleted or temporarily removed. So too have the Applicant and his wife's computers. In December 2015, the Applicant's wife's laptop was rendered incapable of publishing material on the Church and State website. She could not create a WordPress post, add images, or click on most of the platform's buttons. She had posted a video of the attack on her blog before the laptop was returned to normal functioning the following afternoon. Since September 2017, the internet connection speed on any one of their four laptops has been reduced from anything between 70-74Mbps to 0Mbps, usually disabling the targeted laptop, and for up to three weeks to date. The laptop most targeted for this form of attack is the Applicant's main laptop that cost him £600 in January 2017. Their internet connection has been cut 184 times since 26 May 2017, most recently today on 8 May 2018 for a half an hour (the third cut of this duration). The Applicant pays British Telecom £850 per year for broadband. He has documented communication with BT Executive Level Complaints showing there has been no problem with his phone line. (Emphasis added.)

UPDATE 27 November (11.47am): My primary laptop has been messed about for almost a month now (26 days), i.e., with the exception of three days when my internet speed exceeded 70Mb. At the moment my broadband speed is a wipe-out (0.90Mb). Declan has no such problem on his primary laptop. Also, we have been denied access to the internet within this period. Our TV is a constant reminder that non-stop internet cuts can kick off at any time, with cuts that can last for hours (the longest being 3 1/4 hours on 16 August):

Internet cuts (since 26 May 2017)

173 cuts 2017
118 cuts 2018
Since May 2018*
- May 2018: 22 cuts
- June 2018 40 cuts
- July 2018 26 cuts
- August 2018: 16 cuts
- September 2018: 0 cuts
- October 2018: 3 cut
- November 2018: 1 cut

* All cuts on old BT Hub - new BT Hub delivered on 19 August 2018 yet to be installed. The bandwidth on our 2nd BT YouView box is seldom enough to watch TV channels (and because of this, our TV usually operates off our TV aerial or our TV viewing restricted to the BBC iPlayer). This has been, and remains, a constant reminder with respect to whatever BT Hub we use for our laptops.

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 22/11/2018: re 291st Internet cut since 26 May 2017).

On another front, Declan still does not know where he stands with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST); see my newer post of 16 November, St Mungo's: Declan reverts to data protection law in his dealings with the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST for the accurate recording of his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council (WITH UPDATE - DAY 12 27/11/2018). Only three months ago, this Greater London Authority-commissioned charity took Declan to the brink of his second court action against them in two years; see my post of 28 August, St Mungo's: Discrimination; Declan's claim against the Mayor of London's service for the Central London County Court. Still no response from St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair to Declan's pre-action letter (WITH UPDATE 30/8/2018).



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:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour


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

Has Facebook now also dismantled my ability to post memes in my Network for Church Monitoring page? We are hoping Declan's complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council will be recorded by the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST (WITH UPDATE 9/11/2018)

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).



I'm back to technical problems with my Facebook Network for Church Monitoring page. Tonight I have informed Facebook that since this afternoon, I have been unable to post memes in the page or schedule them. And this is in addition to being blocked without explanation from posting in groups 2-9 November; see my previous blog post of 2 November, Fighting for survival in London: Facebook's concerted campaign against our Church and State website shows no signs of waning (WITH UPDATE 4/11/2018: re Block 49 DAY 3). We are hoping Declan's complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council will now be recorded by the Mayor of London's St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST):

Declan taught PE in one of Ireland's top schools (Glenstal Abbey) and recently acquired a UK Athletics coaching licence. He is also Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) cleared to work with children and adults.

"UPDATE 2 November (5.12pm): This evening the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST agreed to ensuring that the following information will be uploaded verbatim to their organisation's information system: '... For over two years, Declan has been fighting without success to secure a long-term volunteer position through Newham Council's Active Newham. Declan has made several complaints of unfair treatment against the Council, culminating in his recent complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Ombudsman's Case ID: 18011204).'"

1 November 2018: UK Athletics: The club secretary for Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club tells Declan that the volunteering opportunity he has seen on Newham Council's Active Newham bulletin is incorrect and out of date (WITH UPDATE 2/11/2018)

Re: Newham Council (Active Newham)

Paragraph 37 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

37. St. Mungo's has not been the only stumbling block for the Applicant and his wife during the last two-year period of their tenancy. They are convinced that if they did not have the status of clients of the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative programme and housing association accommodation, they would have long been given notice to vacate. These are some examples (by no means exhaustive) that shed light on the high levels of persecution and opposition they have experienced during this period of their tenancy:

(i) After receiving a newsletter from Active Newham that sought volunteer befrienders for older or isolated residents in the community, the Applicant applied on 3 June 2016 to become a volunteer befriender. On 20 July 2016, following the intervention of his local councillor, he met with three senior officials from Newham Council. It is a matter of written record that he was told at this meeting that he would be informed of the date of the next befriending training session, however this has never happened. The Applicant has made several complaints of discrimination against Newham Council on the matter. All have fallen on deaf ears, even though he has recommendations for care work, one of which is written by a retired American physician, then based in London, who received his MD from Harvard Medical School (see Annex 18, p. 46).

(ii) Newham Council has twice suspended the Applicant's Housing Benefit following false notifications from the Department for Work and Pensions that he and his wife had vacated. The first notification, in October 2016, triggered a full-blown investigation by Newham Benefits Service. The Applicant produced a paginated bundle of 57 pages and additional documents and was interrogated for over an hour and a half by a senior council tax and benefits officer before the benefit was de-suspended. The second notification took effect the week before the Applicant's court hearing against St. Mungo's on 20 February 2017, and the benefit was only de-suspended the day after the hearing. The Applicant hasn't even been able to secure his and his wife's address from misconduct by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff, despite several high-level complaints related in part to an unauthorised update to their address by HMRC on 11 July 2017.

(iii) Facebook has waged a concerted campaign against the Applicant and his wife's Church and State website, which escalated in March 2018 with four blocks against the site for a total of 29 out of 31 days (see para. 40 below). There have also been 1,180 blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016 due to internal error notifications that render the site inaccessible for generally one or two minutes (see para. 39 below) – a leading web hosting company, SiteGround, is paid $1,000 per year to host the site and manage the server. And the Applicant and his wife's home internet access – for which the Applicant pays Britain's leading telecommunications company, British Telecom, £850 per year – has been cut 184 times since 26 May 2017 (see para. 41 below). Despite all of this, in November 2017 the Church and State website topped more than 3 million hits over the previous eleven months.

UPDATE 9 November (10.46pm): Facebook lifted their 49th block against our Church and State website tonight. However, it remains uncertain whether or not the problem of my inability to post memes in my Network for Church Monitoring page has been resolved. Today I can, but all week I have only been able to do so occasionally. Also, the Mayor of London's St Mungo's TST have yet to inform Declan that they have recorded his complaint of unfair treatment against Newham Council. Next week Declan will formally request this information under the Data Protection Act, if he has to; see my blog post of 28 August, St Mungo's: Discrimination; Declan's claim against the Mayor of London's service for the Central London County Court. Still no response from St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair to Declan's pre-action letter (WITH UPDATE 30/8/2018).




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

Fighting for survival in London: Facebook's concerted campaign against our Church and State website shows no signs of waning (WITH UPDATE 15/12/2018: re Block 52 DAY 8)

This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site.
-Don Collins, President of ISAF, an NGO dedicated to helping women

Ted Cruz asks if Facebook is a "neutral public forum". Mark Zuckerberg admits Silicon Valley is an "extremely left-leaning place" and claims he tries to make sure the company does not have a political bias. pic.twitter.com/gaWw7ORQDY

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) April 10, 2018

Facebook does not have a political bias? The social network's blocks against our Church and State website have gone from 47 days in 2017 - when we topped 3 million hits in the first 11 months despite the blocks - to 155 days so far this year (more than 5 out of 10 months). Last March they blocked me from posting Church and State articles in groups four times (for 29 out of 31 days), and all without explanation. Tonight I received this notification of their 49th block against Church and State since 1 December 2015:



These notifications without an explanation come out of the blue. There's absolutely no way of knowing whether or not the rest of this month will be another wipeout from Facebook, and without an explanation being given.

Re: Facebook

Paragraph 40 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

40. The Applicant's wife has encountered numerous problems with Facebook. In August 2011, then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone wrote to Facebook on the Applicant's behalf, asking that they explain why she had been barred (see Annex 19, p. 47). The bar was subsequently lifted; however, since December 2015, Facebook has blocked her from posting to groups 37 times, and for up to 12 days at a time (see Annex 22, p. 50). In December 2015, Shadow Home Office Minister Lyn Brown made an enquiry on the Applicant's behalf to Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch asking if he could offer an explanation as to the terms and conditions the Applicant's wife was alleged to have broken twice previously (see Annex 20, p. 48). To the best of the Applicant's knowledge, Mr. Hatch did not respond to this letter. The Applicant's wife only ever posts to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that she is well familiar with, and she only ever posts articles that she has already published on the Church and State website. This concerted campaign against the Church and State website escalated in November 2017 after the site topped more than 3 million hits over the previous eleven months [emphasis added]. In March 2018, the Applicant's wife was blocked from posting to groups four times (for 29 out of 31 days), and all without explanation. The following is taken from her complaint to Facebook dated 28 January 2018 (see Annex 21, p. 49):

"Seldom has Facebook made it clear why I am being blocked. Today's block records as the 30th time Facebook has blocked me from posting in groups since 1 December 2015. The only explanation given at the time of one of these blocks has been "spam" (received today); and Facebook has only responded to four of my previous 29 appeals, citing "technical problems" in each instance. Nonetheless, I have been blocked from posting to groups a total of 43 days (and counting) in the last three months alone."

Facebook UK & Ireland Managing Director Steve Hatch

UPDATE 15 December (11.22am): When it comes to blocking me from posting Church and State articles in groups, Facebook's 49th block since 1 December 2015 was lifted on 9 November (8 days). I have, however, subsequently been blocked three times from doing the same (an additional 24 days), most recently for the 52nd time from 8 December until tonight and without an explanation as usual.

Facebook blocks

2015
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
Total: 7 days
---------------------------------------------------
2016
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
Total: 58 days
---------------------------------------------------
2017
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
24th 28 October - 8 November 2017 (12 days)
25th 23-30 November 2017 (8 days)
26th 7-8 December 2017 (2 days)
27th 10-17 December 2017 (8 days)
28th 28 December 2017 - 31 December 2018 (4 days)
Total: 47 days
---------------------------------------------------
2018
28th (cont.) 1-4 January 2018 (4 days)
29th 16-23 January 2018 (8 days)
30th 28 January - 4 February 2018 (8 days)
31st 12-19 February 2018 (8 days)
32nd 26 February - 5 March 2018 (8 days)
33rd 7-14 March 2018 (8 days)
34th 16-23 March 2018 (8 days)
35th 24 March - 1 April 2018 (9 days)
36th 4-11 April 2018 (8 days)
37th 14-21 April 2018 (8 days)
38th 2-5 June 2018 (4 days)
39th 13-14 June 2018 (2 days)
40th 17-24 June 2018 (8 days)
41st 10-17 July 2018 (8 days)
42nd 21-28 July 2018 (8 days)
43rd 31 July - 3 August 2018 (4 days)
44th 10-17 August 2018 (8 days)
45th 4-6 September 2018 (3 days)
46th 20-27 September 2018 (8 days)
47th 30 September - 7 October 2018 (8 days)
48th 12-20 October 2018 (9 days)
49th 2-9 November 2018 (8 days)
50th 15-22 November 2018 (8 days)
51st 28 November - 5 December 2018 (8 days)
52nd 8-15 December 2018 (8 days) (ongoing)
Total: 179 days

January 2018: 16 days
February 2018: 15 days
March 2018: 29 days
April 2018: 17 days
May 2018: No blocks in May
June 2018: 14 days
July 2018: 17 days
August 2018: 11 days
September 2018: 12 days
October 2018: 16 days
November 2018: 19 days
December 2018: 13 days (until 15 December)

I previously reported problems with my Facebook Network for Church Monitoring page on 4 November (see here). Sometimes these sort of problems present themselves in clusters:

6 June 2018

Dear Facebook,

This afternoon I have been unable to post directly to my Page, schedule posts or view my scheduled posts. Please see the attached screenshot, which shows the removal of my facility to post directly to my Page and to view my scheduled posts.

I will not know until this evening whether or not my scheduled posts are posting.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in these matters.

Sincerely,
Lola Heavey
https://www.facebook.com/networkforchurchmonitoring/

Despite our distinguished list of 191 Honorary Associates from around the world, blocks on access to our Church and State website also continue unabated; see my post 27 June, SITE BLOCKS: The blocks on access to our Church and State website continue unabated (WITH UPDATE 15/12/2018: re 1,453rd block since 26 July 2016). Then there's the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site. For example, as I point out in my earlier post about Royal Mail misdelivering our mail, the second article below has more than 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (not zero).



We compare the on-off targeting of our laptops with the removal of our flat door in 2012; see my post of 27 November, The assault on my primary laptop runs into a record-breaking fourth week (WITH UPDATE - DAY 44 15/12/2018). And it's not just Facebook blocks, blocks on access to our Church and State website, the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site, and the ongoing assault on now our two primary laptops. Since 26 May 2017, I have been recording internet cuts to boot; see my post of 7 July, INTERNET CUTS: Are 45-minute Internet cuts to be the new norm? We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE 15/12/2018: re 294th Internet cut since 26 May 2017). Perhaps of particular importance in all this is the fact that Church and State topped more than 3 million hits in 11 months from January to November 2017 (27 Facebook blocks ago), and despite the even then far from level playing field.



From My Picks:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour

'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty

http://churchandstate.org.uk/about/