I keep getting traffic to this post from people searching for 'Google Play Jersey' or variants of that query. It's no help finding alternatives to Google Play though. There are at least two I know of that anyone in Jersey & Guernsey can use, and as an added benefit one has entirely free and open-source apps. The other gives away a paid app daily, and is a big company known for excellent customer service.

I was frustrated months ago when I tried to purchase paid apps from the Play store and got the dreaded 'not available in your country' error. It's possible Google have decided to ignore the small market here to concentrate on tax dodging and plausible deniability for privacy violations instead. Just a wild guess based on their well-documented past, no idea if it's true. Ready to upgrade to a better store?

I received an unsigned reply from the States of Jersey Police regarding the email I sent, described in my last blog post. I note the police reply came only after a BBC Radio Jersey reporter contacted us both yesterday, looking for more details. I explicitly asked the person replying for their name and permission to post the emails but they have so far refused to provide either.

That's a bit creepy and Orwellian, but basically whoever emailed say they "are comfortable with our position re Google analytics we have removed it from the site so that potential victims will have no doubts that their information will not be seen by anyone but officers here". Well done listening to feedback and reacting but multiple issues remain.

When I phoned Data Protection and the CAB yesterday, looking for more information, they literally laughed out loud when I described the situation. That doesn't really bode well for the police. I hope this can be sorted out, it's an easy fix. Remove the Google-hosted page assets and you are done. This is about helping victims of a serious crime. I support doing this of course, but it must be done correctly.

The States of Jersey Police have a new website asklistenrespect.co.uk. It purports to have an 'Anonymous report form' for rape victims and witnesses to use for reporting attacks. This is a very serious issue and I am pleased to see them confronting it, obviously. I think that victims of sexual assault need to be able to trust that anonymous really means anonymous, not something else. If we met on the street and I told you 'The police may be leaking rape victim's data to an advertising company in America' you would think I was talking crazy. Read on.