Wednesday, January 04, 2017

Facebook's 18th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015 (WITH UPDATE - DAY 4 7/1/2017)

Glad you compiled this odious record of mistaken blockage. What possesses the site? Surely after multiple postings they must know your content is neither lewd nor extreme.

Donald A. Collins, President of ISAF, Washington DC



We are calling this Facebook's 18th block since 1 December 2015. This afternoon Facebook stopped me from posting to groups by removing from my posts the title and accompanying information, and this without any stated reason and for an undisclosed period of time. Usually they block me from joining and posting to groups. These blocks have been extended seemingly for the fun of it, and to date I have been blocked for up to six days at a time. I only post to groups articles that I have published on our Church and State website. I also only post to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that I am well familiar with; in fact, I am extremely careful on Facebook but it hasn't made a blind bit of difference for over a year now. Facebook did not respond to any of my previous seventeen appeals, so I'm not expecting a response to my appeal tonight. It reads:

For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook

4 January 2017

Dear Facebook,

I wish to appeal your decision this afternoon to stop me from posting to groups by removing from my posts the title and accompanying information, and this without any stated reason and for an undisclosed period of time. A video of this Facebook block can be viewed at https://youtu.be/XGUAoA3PG0k.



I had been sharing Prof. Paul Cliteur's "The Rudi Carrell Affair and its significance for the tension between theoterrorism and religious satire", and only posted to atheist groups I actively participate in almost on a daily basis. Prof. Cliteur is Professor of Jurisprudence, Leiden University (the Netherlands) and is one of our Authors.

This is Facebook's 18th block since 1 December 2015.

1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
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)

Facebook has not responded to any of my previous seventeen appeals, notwithstanding that I only ever post to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that I am well familiar with. I also only post to groups articles that I have already published on our Church and State website.

"Surely after multiple postings [Facebook] must know your content is neither lewd nor extreme," writes Don Collins, President of the International Services Assistance Fund, Washington, DC. Don often sends us material to publish on our Church and State website.

Please note that we currently have 90 Honorary Associates, including two Nobel prize winners. Since last October, 63 notable scholars from around the world have given my husband permission to add their names to the list.

Yours faithfully,

Lola Heavey
Webmaster
Network for Church Monitoring

"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

2 October 2016: Complaint to Facebook Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg on day 4 of Facebook's 14th block since 1 December 2015

Re: Facebook

Draft paragraph 42 of Declan's next updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

42. On 13 August 2011, then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone wrote to Facebook on the Applicant's behalf, asking that they explain why the Applicant's wife had been barred. The bar was subsequently lifted; however, since 1 December 2015, Facebook have blocked the Applicant's wife from posting to pages and/or groups on eighteen separate occasions, and up to six days at a time. On 22 December 2015, Shadow Home Office Minister Lyn Brown made an enquiry on the Applicant's behalf to Steve Hatch, the Managing Director of Facebook UK, asking if he could offer an explanation as to the terms and conditions the Applicant's wife was alleged to have broken twice previously. 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. Nonetheless, Facebook have not acknowledged or responded to any of the Applicant's wife's eighteen appeals since 1 December 2015. Each of the following blocks are well accounted for in the Applicant's wife's N4CM blog:

1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
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)
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)

DAY 4 UPDATE 7 January (11.30am): It appears this morning that Facebook's 18th block since 1 December 2015 has been lifted; however, two days ago we thought Facebook had lifted the block, only to discover an hour later that it had been reinstated. For now, this 18th block records as a 3-day block. No reply to my appeal above, just a standard message on the first day of the block thanking me for my feedback to help them improve their service!! Yesterday I updated my previous blog post from four days ago, The freedom of speech: An unprecedented four recorded blocks on access to our Church and State website today as we work on an important article about religion and freedom of speech (WITH UPDATE 6/1/2017). I updated the blog post with yesterday morning's 98th block on access to our Church and State website since 26 July 2016.




Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch



'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