The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right and whites only political party in the United Kingdom.
It is curious to find among its membership people who do not live in Britain. The recently leaked membership list has been the subject of scrutiny in the UK press and media, but not a lot of attention has been given to it locally. The Guardian, for example, noted that " It includes the names of a number of clergymen, an actor, two solicitors, at least one doctor and a number of primary and secondary school teachers." It also noted that membership of the list and of the police was incompatible.
A perusal of the list is fairly simple as anything loose is almost impossible to contain. I think that BNP members have a right to privacy, so I am not going to post (or allow as comments) any links or names here. Moreover, it is apparent that some people on the list are additions by the leaker out of purely malicious intent.
But the statistics can be reported on. So here is a local breakdown!
It is interesting to note that there are 5 members locally (3 of the same family), only 1 in Guernsey, but a larger 13 in the Isle of Man! Of those in Jersey, 3 are in St John, and 1 in St Clement, 1 in St Helier. Nobody is a member on Herm, Sark or Alderney!
Historically, the BNP has been fuelled by race fears. It appears the same fears do not abound as much in Jersey and Guernsey, which is good news, especially as there is a significant immigrant (and now native) population of Portuguese descent, which has been the subject of racist comments in the past.
The implications may be far reaching. As Matt Wardman comments, this has happened not because of insecure systems but because of human failure, and he asks:
"Is this a good analog for what will happen when names from the Sex Offenders Register are parceled out on demand as proposed in future - a widely reviled group published on a potentially unreliable database?"
Links
http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/11/18/bnp-membership-list-published-analysis-of-legal-position-for-blogs/
An excellent paper on the legal position for blogs.
http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/11/19/bnp-membership-data-loss-further-implications/
Another paper on false-positives on the list
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/19/police-bnp-far-right-list
It is curious to find among its membership people who do not live in Britain. The recently leaked membership list has been the subject of scrutiny in the UK press and media, but not a lot of attention has been given to it locally. The Guardian, for example, noted that " It includes the names of a number of clergymen, an actor, two solicitors, at least one doctor and a number of primary and secondary school teachers." It also noted that membership of the list and of the police was incompatible.
A perusal of the list is fairly simple as anything loose is almost impossible to contain. I think that BNP members have a right to privacy, so I am not going to post (or allow as comments) any links or names here. Moreover, it is apparent that some people on the list are additions by the leaker out of purely malicious intent.
But the statistics can be reported on. So here is a local breakdown!
It is interesting to note that there are 5 members locally (3 of the same family), only 1 in Guernsey, but a larger 13 in the Isle of Man! Of those in Jersey, 3 are in St John, and 1 in St Clement, 1 in St Helier. Nobody is a member on Herm, Sark or Alderney!
Historically, the BNP has been fuelled by race fears. It appears the same fears do not abound as much in Jersey and Guernsey, which is good news, especially as there is a significant immigrant (and now native) population of Portuguese descent, which has been the subject of racist comments in the past.
The implications may be far reaching. As Matt Wardman comments, this has happened not because of insecure systems but because of human failure, and he asks:
"Is this a good analog for what will happen when names from the Sex Offenders Register are parceled out on demand as proposed in future - a widely reviled group published on a potentially unreliable database?"
Links
http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/11/18/bnp-membership-list-published-analysis-of-legal-position-for-blogs/
An excellent paper on the legal position for blogs.
http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/11/19/bnp-membership-data-loss-further-implications/
Another paper on false-positives on the list
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/19/police-bnp-far-right-list
Grauniad Report on Leaked List
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