The Interception of Communications Commissioner was a watchdog created by the UK government to produce annual reports on the government’s use of its surveillance powers; in September 2017 that function was folded into the Investigatory Powers Commissioner Office (IPCO) as part of the Snoopers Charter, and the UK government let the iocco-uk.info domain lapse.
That domain is now owned by a cybersquatter who gives his name as George Swafford from Washington DC, who uses the domain to host a dodgy premature ejaculation site selling quack remedies.
Beyond the embarrassment of having a watchdog website co-opted, there is a more pressing concern about IOCCO’s reports becoming less straightforward to obtain. Historical copies of the IOCCO site are available on The Internet Archive, but this requires someone putting in extra effort to try and dig out reports that should be, by design, easily available. The only copy available on another archive site dates from 2013. Copies of some IOCCO reports are scattered on other websites, including campaign organizations Privacy International and Statewatch, as well as an official UK government site and transparency activism group Cryptome, but those archives do not appear to be complete.The IPCO did not respond to a request for comment on whether it may be in a position to archive the previously released reports. Questions sent to an IOCOO email address still linked to the hijacked domain went unanswered.
“To end your bad ejaculatory control problem, it is of utmost value for you to look for the right treatments for early ejaculation. Otherwise, all your effort would go squandered,” the IOCCO website continues.
UK Watchdog Now Pushing Premature Ejaculation Treatment Rather than Surveillance Reports [Joseph Cox/Motherboard]