Infrastructure for public interest work in County Durham
County Durham has serious public interest work happening in a small space, from student led campaigns in Durham City to community projects in Bishop Auckland, Consett, Peterlee, and scattered rural villages.
I build and protect the websites that sit behind that work. Static sites, Cloudflare setups, lawful fingerprinting, and evidence grade logging, designed for projects that are likely to be watched closely.
Who this fits in County Durham
You do not need a large charity or a big media organisation to need serious infrastructure. You just need work that matters, and attention that might turn hostile or strange.
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Advocacy and survivor led groups
County wide support networks, peer led projects, or informal alliances that need a stable public website without juggling plugins.
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Local watchdog and scrutiny projects
People keeping tabs on councils, contractors, housing providers, education providers, or justice agencies that affect County Durham residents.
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Student and university linked campaigns
Durham student projects that outgrow a social feed and need a static site that can take traffic spikes from media or institutional interest.
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Rural community projects
Groups based in places like Weardale, Teesdale, and outlying villages, that need something robust and low maintenance rather than fragile complexity.
If the work is lawful, serious, and likely to attract attention, it belongs in this category, even if the group is tiny.
What I actually do for County Durham projects
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Static sites that stay up
Fast builds served through Cloudflare that do not rely on fragile admin panels. Good for projects that might attract hostile or heavy traffic from outside County Durham.
See Secure static sites.
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Cloudflare firewall and routing
Firewall rules, bot mitigation, rate limits, and Workers tuned for public interest work. Google, Bing, and other search engines are allowed through cleanly, noisy automation is made to work harder.
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Evidence grade logging
Edge logs and traffic exports that produce a clear, timestamped record when you need to explain what happened to trustees, regulators, or external advisers.
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Monitoring aware fingerprinting
Lawful fingerprinting on your own domain so you can identify repeat devices and patterns, especially where you suspect institutional or contractor monitoring.
Detail and examples on Fingerprinting and Edge Tracker.
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Email, DNS, and sender sanity
SPF, DKIM, DMARC, basic DNS and routing so your emails keep landing when you need to contact local partners, media, or oversight bodies.
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Governance reality checks
Light touch reviews of privacy notices, cookie wording, and SAR processes so the paperwork matches what your infrastructure is actually doing.
Local realities in County Durham
County Durham has a mix of powerful institutions and communities that have learned to push back. That mix can make digital work messy.
Projects here often deal with housing, education, policing, health, transport, and historic under investment. When someone finally documents what is happening, attention can jump from zero to uncomfortable very quickly.
Your site needs to behave like it expected that shift, not like it was surprised by it.
How I build for that reality
- Infrastructure that assumes you will be watched by more than local residents.
- Separation between content and infrastructure so you keep editorial control.
- Logging and fingerprinting that lets you spot repeat actors and patterns from outside the area.
- Simple explanations that trustees and volunteers can actually understand.
Boundaries, stated up front
These limits protect you and protect me. They are not there for decoration.
- Ki-Ki provides technical services only. I am not a publisher, editor, investigator, or legal adviser.
- I do not draft, upload, or assist with allegation content about named individuals. If you publish that kind of material, it is your decision and your responsibility.
- Any limited SEO or onboarding copy I prepare is neutral, factual, and signed off in writing before it goes live.
- You must not suggest that Ki-Ki endorses your campaign, claims, or politics.
- If a project crosses into unlawful or high risk territory, I will refuse or terminate the work.
The full position is set out in the Neutral infrastructure policy, alongside the Terms of use and Privacy policy.
Questions County Durham projects usually ask
Do you only work with formal organisations?
No. I am happy to work with small and informal groups as long as the work is lawful and serious. What matters is the public interest value and the risk level, not whether you have a big logo.
Do you write our campaign material?
No. You control your own content and messaging. I handle the technical foundations, security, and logging so the platform stays stable and defensible.
Can you work with us if we are based outside Durham City?
Yes. I work across the whole of County Durham and the wider North East, including rural areas. Most work is done remotely, backed by solid documentation and clear handover notes.
Will fingerprinting identify real world people?
No. It identifies devices and patterns that interact with your site, not named individuals. It is set up as defensive monitoring and aligned with your policies, not as a tool for personal doxxing.
Can you help if things escalate with an institution?
I cannot give legal advice, but I can make sure your logs, exports, and technical position are clear enough to support conversations with lawyers, regulators, or oversight bodies.
Start a County Durham focused conversation
If your project is based in County Durham or heavily affects people there, tell me what you are building, what worries you, and what kind of attention you expect. I will be honest about whether I am the right fit.