WARNING!
Anyone posting a link to this page on any bbc blog or message board risks having their membership summarily terminated.
A friend of mine looked at two web pages:
This one and also this one
And then wrote a few comments on a BBC blog.
He then received the following email - I kid you not! (names changed or removed)
---------- Anonymised message (For real!)----------
From: A Cokehead <A Cokehead@bbc.co.uk>
Date: 2009/8/18
Subject: Harassing postings revealing personal details of BBC employees/contractors, sent publicly by you to the BBC...
To: anonymous@googlemail.com
Cc: [cc'd to abuse mail boxes of two ISP's]
Hello there 'anonymous'
I am A Cokehead and I work for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as an Investigator . I deal with individuals, often in collaboration with the police; who are causing problems for BBC journalists, broadcasters and those moderating message boards alike. Might I inform you that e-mail messages, postings, letters and telephone calls that are received within the BBC are subject to a filtering system and those that cause concern or anxiety are referred on for possible investigation by me and/or the police.
I have become aware that you have recently posted a number of messages to the BBC in which you openly identify personal details, namely home addresses of BBC members of staff and/or our contractors. You have had previous postings removed for earlier making public such details and so you clearly continue in spite of this. I note your reference to what a 'man in BT' (actually the blogger was proposing using BT.com to find phone numbers!) can do for you, with interest. Your previous disregard of earlier warnings means that you now cause me some concern as I ponder your next move. In relation to your postings, might I tell you that there is a world of difference in making witty and humorous postings designed to stimulate debate, and making postings with no purpose other than to cause hurt and upset to others. I really am uncertain as to your motive here. Have your postings been made in a sinister or malicious way, or, did you really mean no harm by the sending of them? Have they been sent in what I term inappropriate humour? I don't know... How would you or colleagues like personal details of someone, maybe employees of (detail removed), to be placed mischievously in the public arena?
You might not be aware that any person who sends any e-mail message/postings that cause needless distress, anxiety or upset to any other person (such as me), contravenes the Telecommunications Act of 1984. Sometimes, as is the case here, the targeting of individuals and the mere persistency of such communication can contravene the Protection from Harassment Act of 1997. Quite often, such matters are dealt with by those involved in criminal justice issues, although I am hoping that can be avoided at this stage. I simply wish to put a stop to the posting of your messages and to find out why you have been sending them in the first instance. Only you can tell me, I would suggest... Oh yes, and an apology would also go down quite nicely...
Should you decide to ignore this e-mail then I must inform you that enquiries can be made with your internet service provider (ISP) and/or the (details removed) whose facilities you appear to be abusing, with a view to obtaining your personal details from them. Also, enquiries can be made with other recipients of messages from your IP/e-mail address (employer/college/family/friends etc?) with a view to ascertaining your personal details from them. However, I suspect that will only serve to cause you embarrassment and shame, and it really can be avoided. You will note that I have copied the abuse teams at XXX and XXX in on this e-mail message, yet I have not yet formally complained to them about you. Nor do I need to so do if we resolve issues between ourselves. It might though, be pertinent to add that we in the BBC have retained all the postings tracked to you, lest we need them in the future for their evidential value .
So, 'anonymous', please hit that reply button and get back to me with an accompanying explanation, at your earliest convenience. You must know that that makes sense and on a damage limitation perspective - do you really have much option? I do look forward to hearing from you soon. Just one final thing, please do not worry unnecessarily; I am certain that we can, and will work things out between ourselves.
Regards
A Cokehead (Investigator, BBC Investigation Service)
-----------------------------
[There followed copies of my friend's "offending posts, showing that the system keeps track of poster Identity and the IP address from which each post originates]
-----------------------------
http://www.bbc.co.uk
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated.
If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in reliance on it and notify the sender immediately.
Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
Further communication will signify your consent to this.
**************
My friend replied thus,
*********
Hello A Cokehead
[APOLOGISED AND RESIGNED BBC MEMBERSHIP]
Kind Regards
(removed)
***********
From The Cokehead back to my friend.......
Then please regard yourself as extremely fortunate that I am not to air this matter in a more formal arena and that I am not to notify others, say those who run a certain (details removed) company, of the matter. (That is amusing as the company in question has an Internet Cafe for it's employees to freely use!). Please ensure that you never again venture onto any BBC message board in any guise and it is on that basis alone that your apology is accepted. Details of this matter will be retained on a BBC database lest we ever hear from you again. Please regard this as a final warning.
Regards
R Soul
Investigator
BBC Investigation Service
***********
As y'all would have noted, had I not deleted the postings, R Soul (for that is what he is)
vastly overstated the "offences". NO addresses were posted, and NO STAFF were named.
A DIRECTOR was named and the London square where he lives was named,
as well as the London street where the moderation company has its office.
All this is a matter of public record, available to anyone with the desire to seek it.
Utter bullshit from paranoid creeps.