Monday, August 22, 2011

My IP is blocked by the web host for the second time in a week


Most certainly the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) website should warn citizens that if they decide to lodge a complaint against the Intelligence Services or a public authority they should expect things to happen. Declan sent his application to the IPT regarding the interception of our communications and unlawful directed surveillance on 10 August and since then I haven't stopped blogging: on 13 August, Facebook disabled my account without warning or cause and hasn't even bothered to reply to our emails (see previous blog Declan reports Facebook to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal); on 16 August, our web host blocked my IP address and I couldn't access our website or my files in the server (see blog here); on 17 August, our live-in landlady Belinda McKenzie, a human rights activist, served us with 5 months notice to vacate what has been our home since July 2009 (see blog here); and this afternoon SiteGround blocked my IP address for the second time in less than a week.

SiteGround has been hosting our site since December 2010 and has never blocked my IP until now so I was beginning to wonder if somebody had got a hold of my IP and established multiple connections to the server, resulting in their two blocks within days of each other. However, according to SiteGround, I should limit myself to one browser tab to do all my work in relation to the site (I previously always used two: one which contained my WordPress installation so I could publish articles, and a second to check my work), and Declan and I should no longer access the site at the same time, at least not until we have paid for an upgrade:
Click to enlarge

It still baffles me that Belinda didn’t say anything to us about vacating our flat until three weeks after our one-year tenancy agreement ran out on 26 July, despite us emailing her twice for a new agreement; then she leaves an undated notice for us in the hall together with a new six-month agreement backdated to 26 July (see blog of 17 August We are given 5 months notice to vacate). Declan’s application to the IPT on 10 August includes two stunning photographs of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler, who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us, until 2007 more or less. Moreover, among her many activities, Belinda has been involved with the Iranian community for more than 20 years. This is a video of Belinda with her Iranian husband, the poet Esmail Vafa Yaghmaei, who lives in France, speaking in solidarity with people in Iran on 24 August 2009 in Trafalgar Square, London: