And why isn’t a blog by a disgruntled ex-MI6 employee, Russian defector and, evidently, completely vengence-obsessed, egomaniacal asshole bigger news? Because it is unfuckinggoogleable, that is why. Try it: google “Richard Tomlinson,” “blog” and any possible other combination. For a bog-standard Typepad blog, it’s pretty well invisible. I got to it only via googling ‘Richard Tomlinson v MI6’ which is what the Observer says it is called, which it is not btw, which led to a Romanian mirror site archive of Cryptome, which led to the blog. This is, like, way more cloak-and-dagger than most internet searches and, given the way Google works, cannot be accidental. Either Google is experiencing a significant failure or Google is overriding its searches even for people who don’t live in China…and with that, an internet icon falls. The reason people used Google in the first place was you couldn’t buy your way to the front of the line; that you can bully your way there, or bully another person off it, completely negates any advantage Google had. 

According to Cryptome, his first site got shut down when it posted a list of currently active MI6 agents. It’s too bad he doesn’t work for the White House; Rove didn’t even have to use vacation time to testify.

ADVISORY, not for publication:

We have been asked by the secretary of the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee to publish the following:

FOR THE ATTENTION OF ALL EDITORS FROM SECRETARY DEFENCE, PRESS & BROADCASTING ADVISORY COMMITTEE

I understand that a US-based website has today published on the internet a list which identifies a large number of SIS (MI6) officers.

Defence Advisory Notice No 6 asks editors and programme makers to seek advice before publishing such details unless they have been widely disclosed or discussed as such action could put lives at risk.

Departmental officers are examining how the damage of this disclosure can be minimised. While this is in progress, I would ask that editors do not
interpret the information in the website as being widely disclosed and do not, therefore, publish the address or the content of the website without
first contacting the D Notice Secretary, Rear Admiral David Pulvertaft

And here is the inevitable Wired story: File not found. Quel suprise. But, fortunately, archived on Cryptome again:

Secret service eliminates ex-spy’s Web site

A former James Bond wannabe had his Web site shut down by MI6 last week after threatening to expose some of Britain’s top secrets.

Richard Tomlinson’s site aimed to shake up and stir MI6 by identifying its officers and site locations around the world, according to a report in The Mail on Sunday. Tomlinson also warned that he would publish a book synopsis of his own MI6 career –- an act he was jailed for last year.

Top government law officer Anthony Hammond, got the injunction banning the site, which is based in Switzerland, where Tomlinson now lives.

The site, run by Lausanne ISP IPWorldcom, stated: “The objective of MI6 is to steal the secrets of other countries. Most of the secrets are stolen by MI6 officers working abroad under cover as British diplomats.”

The map of MI6 office sites was said to be “coming soon”.

Another page showed Tomlinson wearing a silly hat and grinning in front of the MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall Cross in London.

When the site was opened up it played the theme tune to Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Last week, Tomlinson said he would appeal against the injunction.

Meanwhile, the cheeky Web wizard had switched the pages to a site run by California-based Geocities.com. Again he was closed down after the Swiss injunction was pointed out to Geocities.

According to Tomlinson, MI6 was breaking the law around the globe by its activities, as well as playing with his liberty.

“They are trying to obstruct my freedom to travel and I have already been banned from entering France, the USA and Australia,” he told the MoS.

“There would be no need to put up this Web site if they stopped messing me about. I have already lost one job by being prevented from entering France.” ®

And here is the story in the Observer that got my attention in the first place. Handing Polly Toynbee her ass is just gonna have to wait for now…

Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service is bracing itself for a fresh series of security leaks about its operations on an internet blog launched by a former top-ranking MI6 officer.

Richard Tomlinson who was jailed in 1998 for breaching the Official Secrets Act, has been quiet since fleeing to Russia in 2001 to publish a book about covert MI6 activities. He is back now and seems intent on taking revenge on the secret service which sacked him in 1995.

Tomlinson, who claims he now lives in the South of France and works as a yacht broker, began the blog last month with a warning: ‘Let the game begin…’

Note, as well, that none of the stories contain links to his actual blog. Which we here at raincoaster global HQ, of course, do.

UPDATE: Blog go bye-bye. Quel Suprise. Still, there’s always Google Cache, isn’t there.

UPDATE UPDATED: Cryptome is reporting that the blog has been shut “by request of HMG which bluffed craven US-based Typepad.com.” No source given for that information; I haven’t had any replies to my emails to Typepad, although on a long weekend I’d be surprised if I see anything at all before Monday. The latest upload of the MI6 spreadsheet that is extant is on Cryptome, from July 31st of this year.