AN EXAMPLE OF ECHELON CITIZEN HARRASMENT by Malcolm Kennedy

Below, a short outline of how Echelon is used by the police and security services in the UK to harass people they have targeted and the freighting reality is that there is no safeguards, no one to appeal to who will do anything to have this kind of activity stopped. And in the UK there is the Official Secretes Act that stops dead any investigation of wrong doing by state employees as soon as National Security is mentioned (a sort of catch all phrase that encompasses everything, for instance, the address of every post office in the UK falls within this definition).

It should be noted that prior to the incident outlined I had very little contact with the police and had no criminal record. The genesis of the harassment I now experience can only lie in the former criminal case which I no longer pursue, preferring to rebuild my life that was totally destroyed by the events outlined below.

Re illegal interference with my phones, mail & email.

Below are details of some of the harassment I experience, it is by no means a complete account. The main reason that I am sending this to you and others, is that I think it important that people know what the UK Security Services and the Police are getting up to and how they are increasingly resorting to the overt harassing of people they have targeted.

It is interesting to note that all of the harassment is directed to implying paranoia should one of their victims speak out against what is happening. Also there is an effort to bring about isolation. For instance last year I sent of a membership form and cheque to the newly formed UK National Civil Rights Movement, it was only after many months that I found out that my membership form was not received and my cheque was not cashed. This can only mean that my letter was lost in the post or that the mail of the UK National Civil Rights Movement is being intercepted and my letter was withheld. Also I never receive any mail from campaigning organisations, even though I am on many of their mailing lists. An explanation of the Harassment. In 1991 I was charged with the murder of an Irish man being held in a London Police station. The case was high profile at the time as I maintained my innocence throughout which meant if it was not me who killed the victim it must have been a policeman. After being convicted of murder the conviction was quashed when new evidence was presented to the Court of Appeal. There was a further 2 trials, the last trial being memorable as the police officer who took the victim into the police station and had most dealings with him was now mentally ill and could not give evidence and was not questioned in front of a jury about new evidence that had come to light. I was eventually convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 9 years, I served 4 1/2 years in prison and was released in June 1996. I no longer pursue the case which has now, in law, been completely dispensed with.

Since my release from prison in 1996 there have been strong indication that every phone I have had has been intercepted, the interference with my telecommunications appears to be deliberate overt harassment, which is to say who ever is doing it wants me to know that it is happening.

3 Appeals to the Home Secretary in 1999.

I have made 3 appeals to the UK Home Secretary in 1999 as the Home Secretary is in the unique position of having the head of the UK Security Services and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police report to him directly to have the interference with my phones and harassment of me stopped.

My appeals were passed onto others to reply to. One was passed onto the Home Office Organised and International Crime Directorate, Intelligence and Security Liaison Unit to reply to me. As I understand things, this unit is responsible for administrating Interception Orders/Warrants. They have not been helpful. In fact one person I spoke to in this department (who would not give his name) seemed to know of me (he was able to refer to the former criminal case in which I was the defendant) and boasted that if my phones were being interfered with, I could never prove it.

Two appeals were passed onto Ravi Pillai of the Metropolitan Police Committee, Clive House, Petty France SW1 9HD to reply to me. My understanding is that the Metropolitan Police Committee is purely an advisory body with no direct powers to rectify the subject matter of the complaints contained in my appeals to the Home Secretary. Ravi Pillai’s replies have not been helpful and he will not elaborate on what he said in his letter 30 September 1999.

In addition I have complained to my MP Brian Sedgemore who wrote to the Home Secretary on the 1 December 1998, in the Home Secretary’s reply dated 18 December 1988 he said the matter should be reported to the police if illegal activity is suspected or words to that effect. The matter was reported to the police. The police have investigated and have refused to give any details of there investigation and will only say there is no evidence of any illegal activity to my detriment, nether is there any evidence of physical malfunction to my telephone system.

The officer in the case and his line manager have refused to say if the matter can be investigated if there is a Order/Warrant issued. Of course if they are not allowed to investigate, then they will find nothing to my detriment.

I have also complained to the Interception of Communications Tribunal, the tribunal did not uphold my complaint (it should be noted that the tribunal has never upheld a complaint since it’s inception), however it is fair to say that the interference with my phones stopped while they were carrying out their investigation.

All indications are that there is a Warrant/Order being continually renewed and that the Warrant/Order is being used to shield and protect from proper and meaningful investigation the illegal harassment of me by the Security Services/Police.

Logically, in truth it would be very difficult to legally maintain an Order/Warrant on me as clearly I am not a threat to national security. Also, clearly I am no threat to the economic well being of the United Kingdom. The former criminal case in which I was the defendant has now been completely dispensed with. I am not accused of any crime as far as I am aware, therefore I would argue that there is no honest grounds for the continual renewal of a Warrant/Order and continued harassment of me.

It seems highly likely that false information or information taken out of context and puffed up is being put before the Home Secretary in order to maintain a Warrant/Order to enable the security services/police to continually target me in one of their psyops operations. The most plausible reason for this is that the security services have re defined what an internal subversive is in order to acquire new targets so they can keep their department (F branch) in work and maintain staffing and budget levels also as the former criminal case in which I was the defendant went directly against the Metropolitan Police it may well be that the police have an interest in keeping me harassed for their own PR purposes.

As the barring of my incoming business calls on my landlines is co-ordinated with the barring of incoming calls to my mobile phone, this is a clear indication of organisation and that GCHQ is somehow involved.

What I say is Happening.

All indications are that I am being targeted by the security services and the police for reasons best known to them, however the genises can only be in the former criminal case in which I was the defendant and has now, in law, been completely dispenced with. <> There are several methods of harassment perpertrated against me, the main methods is interfearence with my telecommunications and to a lesser extent, my email’s, I also receive spoof calls and there is some interfearence with my mail.

Interception of phone calls.

I maintain that my phone calls are being intercepted, this interception goes beyound mear listening in, and is used to gather material in order to harass me and enable the making of spoof calls to me which are at times vailed threats, calls are often received reguarding health insurance, or making the point that the Kennedys cant get life insurance or contain material from recent telephone conversations or messages left on my vioce mail.,P> The main method of harassing me is to interfear with my incoming business telephone calls. It is believed that this in done as outlined below.

There seems to have been a warrant/order issued on me in the past in relation to a criminal case in which I was the defendant.

The warrant/order is continually renewed long after all criminal proceedings have been concluded.

The warrant/order is being used as a means to gain personal and business information in order to harass me and as a means to shield those carrying out this activity from being investigated.

The Way the Harassment is carried out. It would seem that all UK phone calls are routed through Echelon at Menwith Hill (the largest interception point in the world). From there I can only speculate, however it would seem that an interception need no longer be carried out at exchange level.

Calls are then map out and identified using the Youngs system or some similar system to map out my communication lines (see www.i2.co.uk to give you an idea of how phone calles are mapped out). People and organisations I am in regular contact with can always get through to me, as can numbers from outside the areas in which I advertise my business in.

As my business relies on a high volume of incoming customer enquiries from the North and East London postal areas who have not contacted me before, these numbers are easily identified and barred/blocked when they try to telephone me.

A window can be opened up any time from 7.30am to about 10.30pm (7 days a week) to allow new customer enquiries through. This indicates how effective my extensive advertising is.

Often enquiries will be allowed through when I am with someone who I know (when I have arranged to meet them over the phone). The believed reason for this is to make my complaints about the barring/blocking of my incoming calls seem unreasonable.

9. In addition I receive ‘spoof’ and nuisance calls designed to annoy and in some cases to threaten.

I point out that I am not engaged in any political, criminal or subversive activity and only wish to re-build my life that was destroyed by a former criminal case and prison sentence, and wish to pursue the re-building of my life and my interest in Counselling free from further harassment.

What I say is Happening.

All indications are that I am being targeted by the security services and the police for reasons best known to them, however the genesis can only be in the former criminal case in which I was the defendant and has now, in law, been completely dispensed with.

There are several methods of harassment perpetrated against me, the main methods is interference with my telecommunications and to a lesser extent, my emails, I also receive spoof telephone calls and there is some interference with my mail.

Interception of phone calls.

I maintain that my phone calls are being intercepted, this interception goes beyond just listening in, and is used to gather material in order to harass me and enable the making of spoof calls to me which are at times veiled threats, calls are often received regarding health insurance, or making the point that the Kennedy’s can’t get life insurance or contain material from recent telephone conversations or from messages left on my voice mail.

The main method of harassing me is to interfere with my incoming business telephone calls. It is believed that this in done as outlined below.

There seems to have been a warrant/order issued on me in the past in relation to a criminal case in which I was the defendant.

The warrant/order is continually renewed long after all criminal proceedings have been concluded.

The warrant/order is being used as a means to gain personal and business information in order to harass me and as a means to shield those carrying out this activity from being investigated.

The Way the Harassment is carried out. It would seem that all UK phone calls are routed through the UK Echelon at Menwith Hill (the largest interception point in the world). From there I can only speculate, however it would seem that an interception need no longer be carried out at exchange level.

My telephone communication lines are map out using the Young’s system or some similar system to map them out (see www.i2.co.uk for info of how communications can be mapped out). People and organisations I am in regular contact with can always get through to me, as can numbers from outside the areas in which I advertise my business in.

As my business relies on a daily high volume of incoming customer enquiries from the North and East London postal areas who have not contacted me before, numbers trying to connect with one of my numbers are easily identified, routed to an interception point and barred/blocked.

A window can be opened up any time from 7.30am to about 10.30pm (7 days a week) to allow new customer enquiries through. This indicates how effective my extensive advertising is.

Often enquiries will be allowed through when I am with someone who I know (when I have arranged to meet them over the phone). The believed reason for this is to make my complaints about the barring/blocking of my incoming calls seem unreasonable.

In addition I receive ‘spoof’ and nuisance calls designed to annoy and in some cases are veiled threats. It is not clear how the barring/blocking of my incoming calls is effected, however it seems likely that my incoming calls are diverted or routed from Menwith Hill to an interception point where the calls are filtered by computer and then barred/blocked or allowed through to me.

Business:

I provide vans with drivers 7 days a week, day, evening and weekends, charged for by the hour. This is a very busy high demand service. At the time of writing (02.05.2000) I have no work to speak of and am more or less out of business, the incoming enquiry rate is running just below the level of when I had just one small add in the North London Thomson’s directory advertising only a mobile phone number.

Up to the 30 March 2000 I advertised with Talking Pages and had a dedicated phone line to receive Talking Pages enquiries. At the beginning of December 1999 the calls to my dedicated Talking Pages line were cut to a total of 6 genuine customer enquiries in 4 months, in this period Talking Pages confirmed to me that they had given my number out over 160 times to customer enquirers. Needles to say I have had to cancel my advertisement with Talking Pages as I can no longer afford to pay the advertising cost.

I have over the last 2 years increased my advertising by 1000% in real terms and the incoming enquiry rate has at times been reduced as the amount of advertising is increased. Also at this time the economy is buoyant and the categories under which I advertise are within the 17 highest used service categories in the London area.

I rarely receive an incoming enquiries before 9.30am or after 5.30pm week days. Originally when I first advertised my service, calls would come in from early morning up to about 10.00pm in the evening. Also enquiries would come in thick and fast over the weekends. I now rarely get incoming enquiries over the weekends. Finally, I have been told by someone who I believe is in a position to know, that they have heard of similar activity in America but not over here yet. Could what I am experiencing be a forerunner of what is to come. Will the security services and the police seek to control the population by controlling their communication lines and overtly harassing anyone who they have a disagreement with or who’s politics they don’t like?

I know of one case in London UK where a self employed person (who does not wish to be identified at this stage), who has extensive advertising in directories and was involved as a witness against the police in a former criminal case has all their incoming telephone calls permanently barred/blocked and the service provider British Telecom openly admitted that they do not know what the problem is and cannot fix it.

It is clear that the point the security services and police take control of the UK phone lines is at Menwith Hill, from there they can do whatever they want with an individuals or organisations phone calls be they incoming or outgoing and service providers can't do a thing about it, after all it is not their system or service at fault which is to say if a 3rd party have routed a incoming call to thier interception point and not allowed it back into the system it more than likley is not the service providers fault.

If anyone has any info on this type of harassment or details of others who have, or are being harassed in this way, I would appreciate being sent the info.

Best,

Malcolm K.

mal.co@talk21.com

 

Home