DELETION

I have reported, and am convinced, that some of my emails and texts are not being delivered, and if they are then their delivery is being delayed. The latest example of this was just a few a weeks ago when I was supposed to be meeting a group of people over lunch but we hadn't agreed where. The venue was to be texted to me, so I had my phone switched on. But no text arrived. So I went to where I suspected the group would be, and they were there. I didn't say anything about not receiving a text from them because I knew what had happened. I switched my phone off during the afternoon. I switched it back on again when I got home. Within seconds of my phone being switched on, guess what arrived? Yep. A text from the group, sent well before lunch, when my phone was switched on, telling me where they were meeting. But at least I received that text. I have sent emails to people which have not been received. And I know because I have phoned them, they have denied receiving the emails, and I have no reason not to believe them. So it is perfectly possible that some emails and texts sent to me were never delivered to me.

This is ideal for manipulating relationships!!

Today The Guardian is reporting on concerns of GCHQ that they may be prosecuted for their mass surveillance. But one word in the report leapt out at me. And that word was "deletion".

Referring to the decision to publish the report on intercept as evidence without classification, it noted: "Our main concern is that references to agency practices (ie the scale of interception and deletion) could lead to damaging public debate which might lead to legal challenges against the current regime." A later update, from May 2012, set out further perceived "risks" of making intercepts admissible, including "the damage to partner relationships if sensitive information were accidentally released in open court". It also noted that the "scale of interception and retention required would be fairly likely to be challenged on Article 8 (Right to Privacy) grounds".

[source : Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret, The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/25/leaked-memos-gchq-mass-surveillance-secret-snowden, 26th October 2013]

But I am not 100% sure in what context this deletion is occuring.

This reference to deletion could mean that due to the huge scale of data interception and retention that not all the data can be stored, so after some analysis most of it is deleted.

But, it could also refer to real-time deletion and/or delay.

Maybe, and I suspect, both