“The list includes names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of all members up to September 2008.”
The shit has hit the fan for the BNP, the closest thing the UK has to a mainstream Nazi party. Members are worried they’ll be targets of terrorist attacks etc.
I am weeping tears for them right now. Heart broken, I am. People who made a career out of threatening others and trying to make people scared to walk down the streets at night now fear attack.
It’s a tragedy, I tell you.
Man, things like this really tempt me to believe that there’s such a thing as karma.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahah.
Bwahahaha.
Um… are UK party membership rolls generally a secret? Or just the racist ones?
Hah!
Hard to drum up any real sympathy for a hate group, but I’d hate to see any minors getting shanked over this (as the article mentions, some of the members are minors.)
Then again, I’ve seen the BNP (I believe) videos of random assaults on everyday passerby, just for…fun, I suppose. So, in the hypothetical event of any actual shanking, I would be likewise challenged to feel anything beyond morbid satisfaction. Karma’s a bitch, innit?
Awww, couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of arseholes
They’re not state secrets or anything, but I believe that people who join a party could reasonably expect that party to protect their information. I’d guess the Data Protection Act might be relevant here.
Yes, despite most BNP members believing that their views represent the silent majority, they don’t exactly like to advertise their allegiances beyond their own social network. They are reluctant to even espouse their beliefs in public, unless they are among a crowd of like-minded people.
Why is this a big deal? Are there prominent individuals who are hiding their affiliation with the B.N.P.?
IIRC “political affiliation” is one of the “protected data groups” under the UK Data Protection Act so I think you’re right there. Then again, I haven’t had to work with the Act since 2000.
It’s too bad “being racist scum” doesn’t fall under some other category under the act, like “Persons who are racist scum get to be pointed at and laughed at by everyone, and should be called appropriate names like ‘shithead’ and ‘arsehole.’”
Maybe, but it seems fairly unlikely. It’s just that its members are known as a bunch of violent, racist thugs. Even violent, racist thugs have a sense of shame, it seems. Or a persecution complex.
Yeah, I last worked with the act in 1998 or so, and my organisation had no reason to hold political data anyhow (NHS). But it seemed possible that someone has broken that law here. Also, isn’t unauthorised access to data held on computers a breach of that (or some other) act as well?
As to the members themselves, I’d force them to wear a dunce cap anytime they leave their houses. I, for one, like to know when I’m in the presence of potentially violent loons.
(emphasis added).
You appear to have incorrectly spelled “beaten around the head and neck with a broken bottle.”
No, I think he spelt what he wanted to say correctly. Shame is appropriate; capricious violence is unacceptable, no matter who the victim.
No, no, the Data Protection Act would have specified what the words “head,” “neck,” “broken,” and “bottle” meant, in mind-numbing multiparagraph detail. Wow that was not a fun document to work with.
And, yes, Indistinguishable, the BNP deserves our scorn, not violence. No point in dragging ourselves down to their level.
In certain occupations, you are not allowed to be a member of any racist organisation, the nature of the work would call into question your ability to be proffessional.
It’ll be nice to see if perhaps some of those names are in the Metropolitan Police force - could explain quite a few things, and given the compensation paid out to BME member of police services in racial discrimination cases, and these payments were made from taxpayers money, it would be nice to see how much truth there is to the stories of institutional racism.
Read some of the comments on the link, fantastic.
Folk in the army, worried they might lose their jobs - think about why being a member of a racist organisation might be banned for soldiers, then imagine these individuals in Iraq.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
One says he could lose his job and he wants his membership money back, haha ha ha ha ha, if you signed the contract then dont expect to hold on to your job if you get found out.
Violence under the cloak of anonymity, now lets see what crawls out from under the rock.
My view is, if you wish to be a member of a political party, fine, but you don’t have the right to hide it, not when you work in public services paid for through taxation, that is imposed on all people, including minorities.
It gets even better, becuase apparently when BNP log on to their forums, BNP tracks their IPs too HA HA HA HA HA HA. and its also on the membership details, HA HA HA HA HA.
I think if you want to have a political party, no matter how odious, you should stand up and justify it, you should be held accountable for your views, you should be in a position to not have anything to hide about your politics.
If you have to hide under a rock because of your views, then maybe you should develop a thicker skin, or perhaps ask yourself a few questions as to why you have to hide under that rock
While I understand this, unfortunately it doesn’t tend to be those on the right who historically suffer for their political (and organizational) allegiances.
There’s a famous US case where the right to of an organization to keep its membership list silent was upheld under the First Amendment. I think it is NAACp v. Button, but I am not certain.
I find it intensely amusing that this has happened to BNP members; but I am not willing to say you should be required to have your political memberships open for all to see. Prison officers, police and army positions provide different situations, but in general, you should be able to keep your political views private. Now, if the state is not involved with outing you, I am not going to shed any tears when it is disclosed to your friends, family and employer that you are a neo-Nazi. Though I have to say, you would think the skinhead buzz cut, “88” t shirt, and swastika tattoos might have given them the impression you were a bit out there anyway.