Bonum Certa Men Certa

Sheriff of Cork & Debian Edward Brocklesby or Brockelsby Street confusion

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jun 25, 2024,
updated Jun 26, 2024

Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock.

We've seen lots of rude comments about confusion between domain names and trademarks but what about the confusion between different permutations of the name Brocklesby / Brockelsby?

In my last blog, we looked at some of the most unique names in the Debian and FSFE world and I noted that it may be foolish for infiltrators to use names like this because every change they make in the code would attract extra scrutiny.

On the other hand, a name that looks very English and is easily confused like Brocklesby/Brockelsby would appear to be a far more subtle opportunity to obfuscate the real identity.

By coincidence, the office of the Sheriff of Cork, a city in Ireland was held by two men, Joseph Austin and Edward Brocklesby, in the year 1718. One of the sheriff's roles is that of returning officer, in other words, running the elections, counting the votes and declaring the winners. If the European Union had existed in the year 1718, Edward Brocklesby would have been responsible for counting all those enormous ballot papers in the Ireland South district for the European Parliament.

Five years later and Edward Brocklesby was elected mayor of Cork.

Genealogy sites suggest that Brocklesby died in America without specifying where or when.

According to reports William Dunlea, the tenor was born in Brocklesby Street, Cork:

When Bill Dunlea senior married his sweetheart, Clara Whooley, they were both 24 years old. The happy couple settled down at 10 Brocklesby Street, a narrow street on the verge of Blackpool in the Northside of Cork city. The street was named in honour of Edward Brocklesby, the Mayor of Cork in 1723.

They have used the more common spelling of the name. So far, so good.

Trying to find Brocklesby Street, Cork in OpenStreetMap is currently unsuccessful:

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

Trying to find Brocklesby in the Eircode search site is also unsuccessful:

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

Looking in Google Maps we find this:

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

Looking at the same location in OpenStreetMap we can see it is called Brockelsby Street, the alternative spelling, instead. There is another issue: OpenStreetMap incorrectly extends Great William O'Brien Street into a part of Brocklesby / Brockelsby Street.

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

Looking in the Eircode search site again we can now find some addresses in Brockelsby Street too:

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

In the Eircode site search results, we can click the Map button and it takes us to a different map. On that map the original spelling is used again, Brocklesby:

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

After observing this, I felt the only thing to do was to fact check the street in person on my next visit to Cork.

Here we can see the point where Brocklesby / Brockelsby Street begins. It is the small street going to the right. The street sign is for Great William O'Brien Street which goes to the left of the picture. There is no sign for Brocklesby / Brockelsby Street itself.

Great William O'Brien Street, Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

I walked to the other end of the street and there is no sign there either:

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

Just inside the north end of the street, there is an ESB substation and they have a label on the door which says Brockelsby Street:

ESB, substation, Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

As I walked up and down the street, I noticed that residents are highly concerned about security. Every house has at least one surveillance camera and one of the houses had three cameras. They seem to be far more security conscious than the Debian cabal members who totally failed to recognized risks associated with Edward Brocklesby's packages.

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

Brocklesby Street, Brockelsby Street, Blackpool, Cork

There are a couple of businesses in the street.

The web site for Green Rooms Cork is using the original spelling, Brocklesby St.

More significantly, there is a business called Donovan Access. The name reminded me of all the access rights that Edward J Brocklesby had acquired, including root access on servers and the passwords of other admins.

Donovan Access (web site), however, simply provides scaffolding to access elevated parts of buildings. Their web site uses the original spelling of the name, Brocklesby Street.

Here is a picture of the scaffolding on the Doughnut building, GCHQ headquarters, while it was under construction:

GCHQ, Doughnut, scaffolding, construction

To summarize:

When people engage in PGP keysigning for Debian and other communities, are they always going to notice whether the exact form of Brocklesby on an identity document matches the spelling used in the PGP fingerprint slip?

This is a feast for conspiracy theorists indeed.

Read more articles about the mysterious Edward Brocklesby & Debian affair.

Please see the chronological history of how the Debian harassment and abuse culture evolved.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
 
They Will Never Leave Linus Torvalds Alone, Rust is Just Another Way to Cause Instability and Infighting in Linux
We already identified the Rust "community" as troublemakers more than 5 years ago and we wrote about the evidence
Moving Away From Certificate Authorities (CAs) Like Let's Encrypt Means Taking Away From the US Government the Power to 'Censor' Sites by Revoking Certificates
Gemini capsule is cheap to run and easy (easier than a Web site) to maintain. More people disillusioned and frustrated with social control media flock to it.
BetaNews' Managing Editor Wayne William Took Charge of GNU/Linux Articles and His Articles Are Real (He Actually Wrote Them)
We are frankly relieved to see that Wayne William recognised the problem and did something about it
Links 14/02/2025: Publicity Rights Violated (ByteDance), Bribes to Trump Passed via Social Control Media 'Settlements' Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Constitution, Cosmic DE, and More
Links for the day
Links 14/02/2025: Measles Outbreak in Texas, Zelensky Warns Russia Will Attack a NATO Country
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 13, 2025
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: gwit and Restart
Links for the day
Links 13/02/2025: Algorithm Bots and 'Teleport' Breakthrough
Links for the day
IBM Layoffs in 'RTO' Clothing Reported by Thomas Claburn
This "hey hi" (AI) nonsense is just a go-to excuse that IBM and GAFAM (and many others) use
Still Waiting for the EU to Abolish the Illegal and Unconstitutional Court Linked to EPO Corruption and Lobbyism by the Patent Litigation Industry
Sadly, all the blogs that used to talk about those issues have been infiltrated and then completely hijacked by the very perpetrators of the illegality
Social Engineering of the Free Software Movement is a Corporate Takeover With Code of Conduct (CoC) to Drive Out or Expel Dissent
Richard Stallman (RMS) covered "cancel culture"
Links 13/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Google (Disguised as "Buyouts"), Telecoms Price Hikes as Collusion/Price-Fixing
Links for the day
[Video] Richard Stallman Questions and Answers Session in Google's YouTube or Invidious
From last night
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: Broken Watches and Naming Types
Links for the day
Corrupt Bill Gates Worming His Way Into Richard Stallman Videos in Google's YouTube
Reputation laundering riding other people's names?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Links 12/02/2025: Crytek Layoffs, Security Holes, and Giving Ukraine to Russia
Links for the day
Relaying GAFAM Talking Points and Lies Using GAFAM LLMs, or Slop Pasted in by Brittany Day
linuxsecurity.com is relaying slop, i.e. misinformation
Photos From This Evening's Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman in Torino, Maybe a Video Soon
The talk that Dr. Richard Stallman gave today (a few hours ago) was recorded and streamed
IlSoftware.it Covers Richard Stallman's Visit to Give Talks in Italy
The publication is in Italian, the talk was in English
Macho Patent Office
At the EPO there's always room for women in top roles
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: "Bream Gives Me Hiccups", Making Chinese Tea, and More
Links for the day
This is Why Codeberg Issues an Apology Today
This response was clear and relatively swift
The Register Studies (to Affirm) Reports of IBM Layoffs "at the Finance and Operations business unit"
something about that specific unit
Links 12/02/2025: SSL FUD, DEI Phase-out, Felonies Committed by MElon (Data Breaches)
Links for the day
Italian Media Covers Richard Stallman's English Talk Ahead of Tonight's Public Appearance
article in La Stampa
Destruction and Distortion of Information, Including Facts About Linux (Bonus: This is Destroying the Planet)
All that LLMs have going for them is hype, and moreover media that intentionally misrepresents them and their supposed capabilities
Google Seems to Have Just Killed All Instances of Invidious
YouTube is rapidly becoming just "another Neflix"
Microsoft Skype in a Freefall: About 20% Decrease in Site Traffic in 3 Months (Amid Microsoft Phasing Out Credits)
Microsoft axing more services/features may mean that now they scrape the bottom of the barrel and Skype will simply die, discontinuing service (like ICQ) in a matter of years
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: Depression, Gabbro, WikiTok, and More
Links for the day
Links 12/02/2025: Health, Security, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol is Increasingly Important to the Net
Gemini Protocol will turn 6 this summer
Former EPO Manager Warns That the Illegal 'Court' for "Unitary Patents" Enables “Law Shopping”
Daniel X. Thomas opposed the very existence of the UPC, which any honest person could recognise was both illegal and unconstitutional
Like GAFAM, the EPO is Passing the Financial Pains to Staff
the EPO is operating illegally at this point
Morale at Microsoft Ruined by the Company Labelling Thousands of Workers 'Low Performers', Sacking Them on the Spot and Denying Them Basic Benefits
people laid off as "low performers" go to social control media to bemoan the label
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 11, 2025