SaharaReporters, Mountain On Fire Ministry & Question Of Privacy By Patrick Okene Posted: January 11, 2013 - 17:44 By Patrick Okene

In the last week or so I chanced upon the
Sahara Reporters story titled “MFM harassment of SR”. The story, including video detailed the encounter between Mr Sowore of SR and MFM officials.

Let me at this point state quite clearly
that I am not a member of MFM; I have never set foot in any of their branches. As a matter of fact I don’t do organised religion and I am not holding brief for MFM.
Two things made me take an interest in this story; one of them is as a result of a project I am currently leading for a vehicle
manufacturer in Germany. This project required an understanding of the
“Bundesdatenschutzgesetz” BDSG for short which in a nutshell is Germany’s
implementation of the European Union’s Data Protection Directive of October 1995 which underpins all EU data protection and privacy acts.

Our client demanded to know what sort of
data we capture from their network, which of our data centres we store such data and who has access. The second was my invitation by the University of East London (UEL) last month to give a talk about the privacy of Cloud Computing data to their Masters students of Business Information Systems.
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Given the amorphous nature of Cloud Computing and its consequent trans-border issues, I had to research data and privacy laws in Europe, US and other regions of the world including Nigeria ahead of this talk and I must say I came out the wiser and that informed my exchange with
Mr Sowore on Twitter.
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Mr. Sowore had kindly followed my Twitter
handle @NaijaWatch a couple of weeks ago and I reciprocated, immediately. He first twitted the story to which I responded by telling Mr Sowore he had breached the privacy of MFM as stated under our Constitution.
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For complete I understanding I hereby reproduce our tweets.
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Omoyele Sowore @YeleSowore
How Vicious Mountain of Fire Church Security Molested, Arrested & Detained SaharaReporters Crew In Nigeria | SR http:///ZcAGU9
Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch @YeleSowore what u did at MFM was a breach
of the right of d members 2 privacy as
enshrined in constitution.
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Refer sections 45 a&b #Nigeria
Omoyele Sowore @YeleSowore @NaijaWatch It is completely untrue, there is no breach of privacy involved in attending an (event) to which the public was dutifully invited.
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Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch
@YeleSowore you are wrong. MFM clearly told u 2 stop filming & u refused. That z a violation of sections 37, 39,40 &41 of our constitution
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Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch @YeleSowore in US u wld hve violated privacy
implied in 1st,3rd,9th & 14 Amendments.
Filming when told 2 stop is breach of privacy
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Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch
@yelesowore I don't do religion but I wl defend d right of Xtains & Muslims 2 worship God even it means bashing their heads against a wall
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Omoyele Sowore@YeleSowore
@NaijaWatch I agree with you, except that the right to worship doesn't trump other
fundamental rights, including the right to seek,receive-
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Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch@yelesowore
regardless of what we think of pastors, pple hve a right 2 worship God as they wish. Mocking them like u did is unacceptable.
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Omoyele Sowore @YeleSowore
@NaijaWatch If anyone was mocked in the encounter, it was our crew members, I was ridiculed for wearing cowrie shells around my neck

Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch
@YeleSowore u had clear shots of peeps
praying & ridiculed them with graphics. MFM did not broadcast their view abt cowrie shells, u did Omoyele Sowore @YeleSowore
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@NaijaWatch-and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers"-

Article 19 of UDHR Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch@YeleSowore UHDR cannot supersede our constitution or that of any country. UDHR -20 every1 has freedom of peaceful assembly.

Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch @YeleSowore I support ur actions on many fronts but not this MFM one. So let's agree to
disagree #Nigeria
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Omoyele Sowore @YeleSowore
@NaijaWatch This is cherry picking, you are
judging wrongly based on two sets of
evidence-clear evidence from us and total
silence from MFMs
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Patrick Okenzo @NaijaWatch @YeleSowore it is difficult 2 argue with 140 stress (text) wl send u a full statement outlining
my position and let's hope u publish it #Nigeria

This article is not meant to be a commentary on pastors or religious practise in Nigeria; this is simply about looking at the legality of SR’s actions on the day in question.
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Towards this I will look at our constitution and also the laws in the western world, the so called bastions of freedom and democracy. I am not a lawyer
but it is my hope that this discussion would
enrich discussions around privacy in Nigeria. MFM is a dully registered body in Nigeria as a legal entity; this means it has to be treated as a natural person.
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MFM also owns or rents the land on which the church SR TV crew visited on
the crossover night. This means MFM can
restrict access to it if they so which. Even though they offer church services to which
members of the public are invited to, they can withdraw that invitation if they so wish. .
MFM would be well within their right to eject anybody just like I can tell anybody who is sitting in my lounge to leave if they have overstayed their welcome. The law guarantees me this right be it in Nigeria, US, UK or any country. It is for this reason that the agents of the Government would require a warrant to come onto my property.
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There are times and situations when such a right guaranteed by state can be withdrawn in the interest of
national security, in the US this can be done
using the Patriot Act 2001, in UK the Anti-
Terrorism Crime & Security Act2001.
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In Nigeria only an Act of the Federation seeking to protect public safety can supersede the rights to privacy of the individual as stated in sections
37,38,39,40 and 41 of the Constitution SR, according to their report, and also from Mr
Sowore’s tweet above, were invited to this
event, what was not made clear was if this
invitation included the right to film the church service.
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It is important to state here that the
church service itself in the eyes of the law is an Intellectual Property (IP) that is protected by copyright in various countries. It is this right that enables organisations like FIFA, Olympics, MTV or Grammy Awards organisers etc to control the filming of their events via accreditations or even sell the coverage rights.
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Back to story at hand. From the voices in the video it is not quite clear if SR were given the right to record the event. I doubt because at 03:38 of the video, they were challenged also at 06:54 a MFM officially clearly stated SR needed his consent before you can “film my event”. MFM, as represented, by that official
were 100% correct.
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The church service is an IP protected by copyright law and they have a right to stop an unlawful coverage of it. This is
why video and music piracy is considered
illegal. Even if SR were initially granted the right to cover the event, at 03:38 of the video they were told to stop filming. The response of “I am a reporter” at 03:40 of the video was not enough answer.

When asked by MFM to delete the footage, SR refused saying at 05:17 “we won’t delete anything”. What SR had on their video camera was an IP owned by MFM. Imagine a situation where you
walked into Shoprite and you helped yourself to say a packet of chocolate without paying and when asked to return the item by security you refuse.
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Forget Shoprite, imagine going to your local suya seller and helping yourself to
some sticks of suya and when asked to pay
you say refuse and you say “I am a reporter”. Chances are that you would become a suya of some sort!
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Were MFM within their rights to use
reasonable means to claim back their Intellectual Property? Absolutely! Individual privacy in an ever shrinking world is
of great concern to most people and countries in the world.
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At one time in Germany the authorities sent out pictures of driver and front
seat passenger of any vehicle that triggered speed cameras. This is no longer allowed as this is regarded an invasion of the individual’s right to privacy.
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A person having an affair they want
kept private could be outted by such a picture. How does such a man explain a woman sitting in the front seat of his car at a time he was meant to be having a late meeting with his boss in the office? It is no surprise Germany stopped such a practise.
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Did SR confirm with the woman at 02:33 of the video if she wanted to be identified by the public? This video could potentially cause her problems with her husband if she were married and the man is dead set against MFM. This are the sort of ethical issues, aside the legal ones, SR did not
consider before releasing the video.
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Google were hammered because their street view pictures identified people and car registrations and hence why they have now been blotted out. Mr. Sowore’s quoting UHDR-19 as a defence for
his actions is frankly ridiculous. This cannot
supersede our Constitution or that of any
country for that matter. I cannot because
Article 19 of the UHDR walk into a man’s house and violate his privacy neither can I go into St Paul’s Cathedral in London and start filming without their consent.
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There is no legal basis for SR’s actions at MFM; some of the contents of the video in my humble opinion are outright slander. How was the coverage of that event
by SR in the public interest or defence of national security? I don’t need to hear from MFM to know SR behaved like a typical playground bully.
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Lets look at SR labelling of MFM security as
thugs. That, against the backdrop of the killings of Pastors and other Clerics by Boko Haram, is disappointing. In the last one year, Boko Haram has attacked countless churches and killed hundreds of church members and Pastors. A simple Google query on this would bear me out.
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Five years ago, nobody would have believed Nigerians would become suicide bombers and everybody was lax about security. What is the guarantee that Bojko Haram cannot strike in the south of the country? Don’t wave that aside. MFM has simply done what any reasonable organisation would in the prevailing
circumstances by having security guards.
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Calling them thugs won’t change the reality on the ground. Even the police in Nigeria have gone out of their way to encourage people and places of worship to beef up security. Did MFM overstep their bound by detaining SR crew as claimed by SR? That is open to interpretation Mr Sowore’s defence as shown above does not
cut the mustard in my opinion.

His use of graphics in the video was meant to ridicule MFM members shown. Everybody knows most churches in Nigeria
frown at cowrie shells, there is nothing new
there. I personally love things “ethnic” I have worn bracelets with cowrie shells before, I sometimes wear beads into client meetings and this has elicited positive comments from foreigners I interact with.
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Items such as beads for me symbolise my background and nothing religious in them but this is not a view shared by many Nigerians who have a rabid hatred
for anything cultural and view them as
symbols of idolatry.
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MFM are entitled to their opinion and they did not go public with their view on this, it was expressed within the bounds of their property and it was SR that broadcast this view and I don’t see how Mr. Sowore can complain here.
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SR has published stories exposing corruption and impunity in governance and we will forever be grateful to them for that. But on this occasion SR are guilty of the sort of impunity they have on several occasions accused politicians of.
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It was unspoken but the message was clear. Who are you? Do you know who you
are dealing with? Don’t you know me? That
was the body language of Mr Sowore and SR on that day. Like we say back home, if you point one finger at somebody, you have four pointing back at you. The finger of blame in this whole wahala is firmly pointing at SR.

ppokene@gmail.com / Twitter handle: @ Naijawatch.

There is no legal basis for SR’s actions at MFM; some of the contents of the video in my humble opinion are outright slander. How was the coverage of that event
by SR in the public interest or defence of national security? I don’t need to hear from MFM to know SR behaved like a typical playground bully.

These pararazies go to churches . And record giving impression they want to help the work of God especially when they are caught . But when they do it successfully the video turns out to be a ridicule of Gods house. Many pastors have recieved some of them with open arms only to receive a back stabbing while watching the documentary with their families.

Mountain Of Fire And Violence Against
SaharaReporters
By Macaulay Oluseyi http://mobile.saharareporters.com/article/mountain-fire-and-violence-against-saharareporters

My interest has been drawn to
SaharaReporters publication on the Mountain
of Fire & Miracles church handling of
Saharareporters crew on new year's eve and
the allegations of assault on the publisher of
Sahara reporters, Omoyele Sowore. Since the
publication became viral, I have read the full
excerpts, comments and watched the video
clips, paying particular attention to the voices
at the background of the video clips as
Sowore negotiated with the heinous local
church police, I watched as the
Saharareporters crew was escorted out in the
glare of the congregation and as the report
also claimed they were taken to a dark place
where threats were clearly mad by church
security and task force members as well as
the regular and secret police and church
officials.
My problem is not about the "accreditation"
noise and brouhaha. I am extremely
concerned about what Christianity has
become. My interest was necessitated by a
probing question posed by Sowore to church
officials in the reports on Saharareporters.
“Sowore argued against the aggression,
wondering why a church service being
streamed live was a subject of such secrecy
and acrimony." He asked what the church
was hiding and what the difference was
between the Jesus police and the Devil's
army. That for me is the point, a matter that
should never have been raised in the
congregation of saints.
I broke down several times reflecting on this
question. What kind of messages do modern
day preachers impart in our minds? They
have succeeded in making us twice deadly
and violent, unlike Christ. They seemed to
hinge only about breakthroughs, prosperity
and worldly things. An apparent show of
shame such as the one reported by
Saharareporters tells a lot about what most of
us have become. I said “Us” because as a
Christian I am ashamed that such was the
first Jesus that Sowore could communicate
with at MFM.
I wish I could be helped by God to tell him
(Sowore) that Jesus would never do such a
thing to a new comer to a church, not even
those unwilling to be saved. Today’s gospel
has robbed us of Christ-likeness. We are just
socializing, mobilizing and hazing innocent
people in the name of prosperity and
protection.
The media accreditation claim is a mere
excuse. I doubt if there was such a thing at
MFM for that particular program. It is just a
ploy to save face after the disgraceful
misrepresentation of the church by security
men who were more catholic than the pope.
The accreditation claim is just another way of
saying only selected journalists can cover a
program, they could as well have been paid to
cover and report what the Church wants the
outside world to see, I am wondering what is
exclusive about a Church if it is the Church of
Jesus Christ. You may want to say that Jesus
had three disciples who belonged to the
“inner caucus” but don’t also forget that one
of them later wrote:
“That which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes, which we have looked upon, and our
hands have handled, of the Word of life; ”
For life was manifested, and we have seen it,
and bear witness, and shew unto you that
eternal life, which was with the Father, and
was manifested unto us; ) hat which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you that ye
also may have fellowship with us: and indeed
our fellowship is with the Father, and with his
son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1-3
Meaning that he had no hidden agenda, Jesus
himself did say “I spake openly to the world; I
ever taught in the synagogue, and in the
temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in
secret have I said nothing.” John 18 20.
I wonder why journalists will be prevented
from covering a program, on the basis of
accreditation, whatever that is, except that it
is synonymous with secrecy.
For me, I do not see anything wrong in
covering a church program. If we are true
Christians, I figured from the reports that
Mountain of Fire is supposed to be a church
where godliness is meant to be learned, a
gathering of Christians though not ruling out
the possibility of the intrusion of agents of the
devil. Although many seemed to justify the
fears of Nigerian christians because of the
recent attacks by bloodthirsty terrorists who
in the name of religion have done havoc to
most Christian gatherings in the north and
some parts of the country.
It has become so easy for Christians to fear to
die in the hands of their physical enemies that
we even fear harmless journalists. The fear is
not even the issue. I also recalled that the
article noted that Dr. D.K Olukoya was
preaching about fear. I would like to have a
copy of that message, to see if he touched
the subject wholly as to comfortably watch his
"church task force" from a distance in the
drama which began in his very presence.
In all these, I applaud the fearlessness of
Omoyele Sowore in the midst of those whom
he referred to as the "devil’s army" and yes, I
cannot agree more. If indeed Omoyele Sowore
was molested and assaulted and taunted with
death by supposed Christians then, they must
have forgotten that they acted out the same
script where one of Jesus’s disciples cut off
the ear of one of the priest’s servants in
Matthew 26:51, and Mark 14:47. When they
had not truly learned to be true Christians,
the disciples imagined at the time, that they
were engaged in a physical fight and that
they would need to violently oppose any
intruder.
In any case, they were just too overzealous
and power drunk. In Luke 9:49 “And John
answered and said, master, we saw one
casting out devils in thy name, and we
forbade him because he followeth not with
us. They forbade a man who was not
accredited, he does not carry the "voters
card" of Jesus Christ, so they silenced him at
another time. They wanted to fight to protect
Jesus who later told them: “Put up again thy
sword into his place: for all they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword”. In
Matthew 26: 52, he said, “Thinkest thou that I
cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall
presently give me more than twelve legions of
angels?” Ver 53. Unfortunately, the type of
Gospel we hear has made us become more
fighter who are willing to draw the sword.
Why am I not surprised? We think Christianity
is physical warfare, so we resort to physical
assault at the slightest provocation. Our
untrained uniformed men draw the battle
line pretending to be security conscious. I ask
you, how conscious can you be when sleep
overtake you? When you are down in deep
sleep, tell I beseech thee, how conscious can
you possibly be? We have sent men out of the
church because of our lives and this can be
said about us “ Wherefore the sin of the
young men was very great before the LORD:
for men abhorred the offering of the LORD. “
1 Sam 2; 17 we have cause many to “abhor”
the offering of the lord.
This modern day gospel has exposed the
scope of our decadent minds and tells a lot
about how the messages we hear that does
not transform us as to make us react to
situation the way Jesus would. If those who
work for the church, even in the security
department, will use force against someone
who needed to see Christ in them. When the
only first lesson that a journalist will learn from
our congregation is that of a “violent Jesus
army” hounding a harmless reporter to
judgment and brutality of the police, then he
has a right to write what he wrote.
I have never considered Omoyele Sowore as a
Christian as to assume that he would go near
a church. Since knowing him, I have also not
considered him an atheist who hates God so
much to be interested in an end of year
program and to want to expose Mountain of
Fire and their acts of violence. It is for me a
coincidence and it would have been an
opportunity to preach the gospel to the social
crusader, a man who fought Abacha’s
government in the hey days of military
dictatorship. A man who was arrested and
detained severally for his role in denouncing
the ills of government. The man who exposed
the evils committed by politicians and risked
his life in the hands of the state police. The
person daily threatened and abused by
government paid bootlickers. The same
Sowore who once told a friend that, “I have
no country to return to because of these
corrupt leaders who hunts for me.”
The reporter who brings first hand information
to many of us who do not know where Zurich
is and tell us about the lies of a corrupt body
of men who have hijacked the reins of
governance leaving many in abject poverty.
This guy in my opinion is a better Christian to
have added to his honor a visit to a Church,
choosing especially Mountain of Fire, perhaps,
for his prayers on the last night of the year in
his clandestine visit to Nigeria.
He is more Christian, by inclination, who
decided to do his (journalistic) work without
any ulterior motive until those who have
protective powers than God had to attack him
because he was moving close to their alter
(alter built with gold) by saints and Not
Carpenters and bricklayer who have the
tendencies to sin like me. An Idolized
seclusion of our mind, where we assume that
God dwells, a place where the God would only
have one Holy man stand from January to
December and from where the “benevolent
god” of the alter watch security as they
harass a reporter.
These security men that gather around the
pastors and treat him like a type of God, Jesus
who was hundred percent human and
hundred percent God was thronged in Luke
8:45 they make themselves like a demi-god
and their security who are paid by the
offerings of the congregation are willing to
fight, even kill those who dare to come near
them.
I cannot explain the remarkable thing about
our supposed big men of God They want the
nation’s audience but not the people’s pain.
They want the congregation who sits and
listens to them. They quickly run out of the
congregation through the backdoor to avoid
the questioning of the people. Nothing is
fundamentally wrong with protecting your
Moses if he needed a human shield.
But how about allowing God to defend your
Moses in the face of danger? In this case,
there was no danger; it was an expression of a
person who is free in his heart and eventually
expressing his freedom on his chosen career's
before being viciously hijacked and molested.
Let me add that a true Christian congregation
does not honestly need all those security
mentioned in the exchange so far. It is a
miscarriage of justice. It is the compromise
that brought us to this low state, where our
pastors needed all the security apparatus to
go everywhere. It is because we have stopped
becoming true Christians that we needed
human shields and security all the time. It is
even a shame on a pastor to go about with
heavily armed guards, gun-wielding police or
solider. We have added all of these because of
compromise. I know of a church in Lagos
where the security man is an OPC member.
He has been absorbed, and I also hope they
also remember to speak to him about the
saving power of Jesus.
Even the fear of Boko Haram expressed and
used as an excuse to harangue Sowore is not
tenable. Boko Haram became a problem when
we stopped praying, when we stopped
becoming true Christians, and indeed it is
part of the prophetic statements made by our
powerful Jesus when he said, “They shall put
you out of the synagogues: yea, the time
cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service.” John 16:2. But
today's’ gospel is a service to God because of
what we can get and not because of whom he
is.
I remember that Steven Akiola of Redemption
Ministries prophesied about the colossal
persecution that will sweep the land if the
church does not repent of this newfound
gospel. (In a message, he preached @ Tunde
Bakare's Church). The reaction by the church
in response to Sowore’s assertions is a mere
excuse to justify the crude handling of a first
timer to their congregation. No excuse is
tenable.
The other 25 journalists claimed to have been
cleared needs to answer some questions.
Was there actually any clearance or
accreditation of journalists? Has there ever
been a clearance for "Crossover Night" service
at MFM? Is it an excuse to protect their image
from the revelation made by Saharareporters?
Can the 25 media houses be publicly named?
If there are 25 journalists, how come none of
them captured or reported the episode?
Where were they sited? Does the church have
a press gallery, if so, where in the auditorium
is the press gallery?
I think Mountain of Fire should swallow their
pride and accept that an offence against a
harmless journalist was committed in a
Christian environment.
Even if we can justify the claims of theirs of
“breach of jurisdiction” by non-accreditation
claims, which I doubt can hold sway for a
church, we must also recognize that as a
church we have failed to be an example of
believer - “but be thou an example of the
believers, in word, in conversation, in charity,
in spirit, in faith, in purity.” 1 Tim 4:12.
Here I rest my case because I was privy to
other events undertaken by Dr. D. K Olukoya
and the church's PR team after the news
broke that shook my faith in the church.

Am not arguing in support of the man- handling He claimed but my point His "why must He move towards the altar when preaching was going on? What is His mission (you might say to take pictures/ video the event) ? Are church security team not meant to be vigilant again?
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On a final note, there are protocols that are not meant to be broken no matter who you are and the purpose you want to serve.