INDEX		November 4, 2022
A month ago I filled out a form and sent it to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. For 15 years or so I have been the subject of a harassment campaign. Since this campaign has involved a senior police officer on the Caymans, a senior officer in the British army, a large number of young men who had a military bearing and other real life events (as well as hacking), it was clear that I was not just being targeted by a group of crazy adolescents working from their back bedrooms. IPT, is an odd body since it seems to be a place for the cognoscenti: security officers complaining about vetting; police officers saying the rules were broken during disciplinary investigations; and alleged terrorists who have legal advisors. That sort of thing, though obviously none of these categories refer to real life cases. On its web site (https://www.ipt-uk.com/) it promises that if you make a complaint and fill out the relevant form the tribunal secretariat will send you a written acknowledgement and a case reference number. I sent the original complaint by recorded delivery and it was signed for but a month later still no reference number. A few days after I sent the letter I set up a temporary email address (my standard email is always being hacked) and this time I did get a reply asking me to be patient. It doesn't mention being patient on the venn diagram detailing the process on the Investigatory Powers Tribunal web site. It just says you get a reference number. For me, the issue is that IPT says you have to make a complaint within 12 months of the incident happening. Now I could complain about being hacked. As I write this on a freebie wordprocessor the standard navigation bar is missing. This happens on almost all the software I use (Gmail is a bit cleverer). I could mention that virtually every item of electronic equipment I have ever owned has been tampered with (even an electronic doorbell). But these things are intangible the human encounters are not and they happened on a specific date now receding into history. A month is a long time to be patient when there is a 12 month cut off. So last night (Thursday) I rang the Liberty civil rights helpline. Liberty didn't seem to know anything about the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and the person I spoke to was evidently deeply sceptical about my fear that my letter and email had been intercepted. This is odd because Annie McMahon (the last major whistle blower to spill an insider's view of MI5) was clear that MI5 thought users of the post were very unsophisticated since they should expect mail to be intercepted. As for the phones and email, I suspect you already know what GCHQ is capable of doing.
		INDEX Jonathan Brind	November 4, 2022