Infrastructure for public interest work in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough and Teesside have been picking fights with unfair systems for a long time. When that turns into a public interest project, the site that carries it needs to survive more than a Facebook argument.
I build and protect the websites behind that work. Static builds, Cloudflare setups, lawful fingerprinting, and evidence grade logging, tuned for projects that expect pressure from institutions, contractors, and distant decision makers.
Who this fits in Middlesbrough
The people who need infrastructure help most are usually the ones documenting uncomfortable truths, not the ones with a comms team.
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Anti poverty and housing projects
Groups tracking conditions, decisions, and treatment of tenants and residents across central Middlesbrough, Grove Hill, Newport, Berwick Hills, and other estates.
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Watchdog and scrutiny work
Projects that keep an eye on councils, health providers, police, contractors, and regeneration schemes affecting Middlesbrough and surrounding Teesside towns.
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Advocacy and support groups
Peer led and survivor led networks that need a stable public site to explain what they do and host information without depending on a social feed.
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Independent media and blogs
Citizen journalists and issue focused blogs that expect stories to travel beyond Teesside and need a site that does not fold when outside attention hits.
If your work is lawful, serious, and likely to attract attention from outside the neighbourhood, it fits here even if your team is tiny.
What I actually do for Middlesbrough projects
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Static sites that survive spikes
Fast static builds that avoid fragile plugins and slow dashboards. Good for projects that might suddenly be linked by journalists, campaigners, or people outside Teesside.
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. Search engines and accessibility tools are allowed cleanly, hostile automation is made to earn every request.
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Evidence grade logging
Edge logs and exports that show who hit what, when, and how hard, in a format that can sit inside complaints, internal reviews, and regulator correspondence.
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Monitoring aware fingerprinting
Lawful fingerprinting on your own domain so you can see repeat devices and evasive patterns, including quiet interest from institutions, firms, or outsourced providers far outside Middlesbrough.
Detail and examples on Fingerprinting and Edge Tracker.
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Email and DNS that do their job
SPF, DKIM, DMARC, DNS, and routing tuned so your messages reach residents, partners, media, and oversight bodies instead of dying in spam folders right when you need them.
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Governance checks that match reality
Practical fixes to privacy notices, cookie wording, and data handling descriptions so they match what your infrastructure actually does rather than what a generic template assumed.
Local realities in Middlesbrough and Teesside
Middlesbrough sits at the sharp end of decisions made far away. When people start pulling those decisions apart in public, the reaction is rarely gentle.
Projects here often deal with deprivation, regeneration, policing, health, and long running disputes over how people have been treated. Once the work gains visibility, attention can come from councils, contractors, national press, and central bodies in one go.
Static infrastructure behind Cloudflare gives you a base that behaves as if that attention was always expected.
How I build for that context
- Infrastructure that assumes scrutiny from outside Teesside, not just local readers.
- Separation between content and infrastructure so you keep full editorial control.
- Logging and fingerprinting that surface patterns without drowning you in noise.
- Documentation that trustees, volunteers, and organisers can read without needing a security background.
Boundaries, stated clearly
These limits keep the work defensible for you and for me.
- 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 and only goes live after your written approval.
- You must not imply that Ki-Ki endorses your campaign, your allegations, or your 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 Middlesbrough projects usually ask
Do you only work with established charities in Middlesbrough?
No. I work with small charities, CICs, informal groups, and individual projects, as long as the work is lawful, serious, and in the public interest.
Can you harden a site we already have?
Often yes. I can place an existing site behind Cloudflare, improve DNS and email, and introduce logging. If the current setup is too fragile, we can plan a move to a static build instead.
Will fingerprinting identify real people by name?
No. It identifies devices and behaviour that hit your site, not named individuals. It is set up as defensive monitoring and aligned with your policies, not as a tool for personal doxxing.
Do you only work with Middlesbrough based teams?
No. I work across Teesside and the wider North East. If your project heavily affects people in Middlesbrough, it still belongs here even if some of your team live elsewhere.
What if a council, contractor, or agency disputes what we publish?
I cannot give legal advice, however I can make sure your logs and technical position are clear enough to support conversations with lawyers, regulators, or oversight bodies if you choose to involve them.
Start a Middlesbrough focused conversation
If your project is based in Middlesbrough or heavily affects people there, tell me what you are building, what worries you, and what level of attention you expect. I will be honest about whether I am the right fit.