The Call From Bude
After I was forced protect my communications, the state tried to intimidate me.
**For the avoidance of doubt: I am not suicidal. I am young, in excellent physical and mental health, in full possession of my mental faculties and am looking forward to building a free, full life. Any sudden deterioration, unexplained harm to my person, my wellbeing or any unexplained interference with my communication must be treated with the highest suspicion.**
Today I’m sharing hard evidence of the suspicious calls I received after trying to secure legal support and tightening my digital security, including one traced directly to Bude, Cornwall. The same location as GCHQ Bude, a SIGINT listening post.
I. Email Metadata Surveillance: The First Call
On Wednesday 9th April at at 19:59, I received email from a law firm acknowledging ongoing issues with DSIT:
Just six minutes later, at 20:05, I received a call to my UK number from 0771038850.
Not a coincidence. I was 6,550 miles away from the UK, rarely receive calls to my UK number since arriving in Japan, yet somehow, a random UK number was now calling me immediately after legal correspondence.
The call was an automated voice message telling me to “message the number via WhatsApp”. I didn’t. Instead, I documented it immediately. Here’s the screenshot:
II. The Call from Bude
After receiving the first call, I took steps to protect myself. I removed my UK sim from my phone. I inserted it into a new device on Wednesday 23rd April.
Shortly after reinserting my SIM, I received a call, this time from 01288706758. A quick search revealed the area code: Bude, Cornwall.
Of all the places in the UK I could have been called from, I was called from Bude at this very moment. Not London. Not Manchester. Not Birmingham. Not Sheffield. Bude.
The site of GCHQ Bude, one of Britain’s most important surveillance listening posts, operated jointly by GCHQ and the NSA under the UKUSA Agreement (Five Eyes).1
Under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, interception warrants must be:
Authorised by a Secretary of State
Approved by a Judicial Commissioners
Limited to national security, economic security, or preventing serious crime.
Harassing a civilian whistleblower, on foreign soil, for seeking legal advice, is none of those things.
III. The Call From Silverado, California
On Sunday 20th April, I had received another unusual call, this time originating from Silverado, a small unincorporated community in California.
Population? 932 people.
Major infrastructure? None, other than the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center.
That’s two calls in the space of three days, both from small, non-commercial areas with known intelligence infrastructure.
*Article updated on Tuesday 6th May for clarification. In a previous version, I stated I received a call routed through Silverado before I had inserted my UK sim into my new device. Upon review, I realise that timeline was inaccurate, the call in fact came through to my UK SIM on my original device as shown in the screenshot.
I would like to apologise for that confusion and take this moment to emphasise: I don’t have editors. I’m one person. I am simultaneously experiencing, processing, documenting and publishing this archive in real time.
I take accuracy seriously, and when I make a mistake, I will correct it.
Thank you.
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https://publicintelligence.net/gchq-bude/