It's a brainache...

Downloaded a copy this morning as WL was gone bye-bye throughout yesterday, and have just finished data-cleansing it to make it useful. Goddamn BNP morons couldn't even set it up so that the name field contains a name and the address field contains an address! (add a phone number, e-mail address and comments free text in a bunch of these, just for fun, even though there's separate fields for these).

Surprised at how many people have addresses abroad - especially in places like Saudi Arabia & Oman - how do they manage day-to-day when they don't like anyone with a "tanned" complexion?

Also, does anyone know what the appellation "activist" actually means?

Haven't found anyone I know on there yet, which is reassuring.

@ Linking to the list...

I doubt that El Reg readers need any help finding the list. or that it was they who crashed Wikileaks.

Anyone who wants a copy , already has one.

@ AC 13:46

The article does not say that the BNP list is on wikileaks. It only says that people are looking for it there. IANAL, but I suspect that distinction is enough to keep the register out of the front line if there is any fallout about guiding people to the list. I would rather have the register spend money researching articles than fending off a pack of lawyers.

I am sure reg reader would think of wikileaks as a good place to start looking without any hints.

@AC

"You fail"

oh dear, an all time low for el reg comments.

@AC -> @AC

" "You fail"

oh dear, an all time low for el reg comments."

Surely you don't think it should be One Faileth?

@linking to the list

Urgh.....half the world and their dogs already knew where to find copies of the list.

@AC 14:56

UKIP: maybe it's considered anodyne where you live, but round here we spit on the ground every time their name is mentioned. Phooey.

Forgive my ignorance

But I'm an American and I really don't understand why this is such a big deal. To me the BNP sounds like the republican party. Are people really banned by law from joining the BNP? I've read the articles, but I'm not really grasping why this is such a big deal. Please flame or enlighten me.

Thank You

re cybersaur

cybersaur, the BNP formed out of the breakup of the national front. Maybe that helps explain why they are so maligned and what being a member says about you?

@cybersaur

I'm an American living in London, and from what I can tell, the sentiment is more like equating the BNP to the KKK. If you heard that a list of all the people who have secretly joined up with the KKK had been published for the entire USA (or maybe even just in your state), would you take a peek to see if anyone you know is on there?

@cybersaur

It's not actually illegal to join, but it's deemed to be incompatible with certain jobs. If a BNP policeman arrested a black suspect the defence lawyers would create merry hell, for example.

It's not exactly the Republican Party, unless they've recently invested in some of those pillow cases with those natty little eye-holes.

Meanwhile, my pregnant girlfriend has been threatened online by a BNP supporter after commenting on a thread about this sort of thing. Nice to see the BNP still standing up for free speech, democracy and British values. Bastards.

@ cybersaur

These guys are worse than Republicans - they're skinheads, fascists; the guys at the top may wear suits, but further down the chain it's jackboots. The're more like a toned down KKK.

That said, you can still legally join them - they're a political party, and we don't tend to ban stuff outright in blighty unless they're actively plotting mass murder. But serving police officers are banned from membership - the police have a bed enough rep amongst racial minorities as it is.

@cybersaur

They are not the Repugnant party those are the hard right wing Tories over here. But you have semi criminal political wing nuts over the pond. KKK like in their policies.

In the UK political parties enjoy equal air time on TV so that one party doesn't get get more cover than another (It's related to the limit that parties can spend on canvassing and adverts.)

But that ex Nazi party is banned from any broadcasting. Or rather the original party was and it had reformed to go underground.

These days they insert members as independent candidates for election. The UKIP party is another version of it. Though it isn't in any way a sharer with it.

re: Forgive my ignorance

It's a legal political party but certain sections of the UK populace namely the police and prison officers (there may be others as well) are not allowed to be members of ANY political party.

@cybersaur

Imagine a political party formed by the KKK and the John Birch Society. That's the BNP.

Consequences

I know someone who's name is on the list. They are not a member, they were only on the mailing list. He was very annoyed to find his name & address on it. He suspects that many people down on the list aren't members at all, but were only receiving literature or had expressed an interest in joining. Whatever people think of the BNP it is a legal party & it doesn't endorse violence (it'd be banned if it did). Labour has done enormous damage to the social fabric, economy & constitution of this country, but doesn't attract an iota of the scorn poured on the BNP. But a lot of people will face some repercussions for this from friends dropping them to possibly even murder attempts. I doubt the police will invest too much time putting guards outside people's homes.

Just a little perspective here

Henley on Thames by election, where old Boris had to step down to become the Mayor of Trumpton.

2 people listed as members.

1,243 voted BNP.

So how many on their membership 10,000 .

10000 / (2 / 1243) = 6 million about 1/10th of the UK population.

So, 1 in 10 support the BNP that is kinda large when you think about it, how many people do you pass in the street everyday. The actual vote % was only 3.8% though.

Sure the BNP are getting votes due to protest, but it is still getting votes and things have got worse not better.

And in the Hinkley by Election they came second with 18.8% of the vote.

I think they are gaining momentum and this will probably end up getting more votes for them.

RE: plenty of places to find it

Given that my wife is a non-white immigrant, I'm very interested in seeing that membership list - if there's a racist prick serious enough to join the BNP nearby I'd rather know about it than not. Might partially explain why my car door was battered in, too.

@ BNP WITCH hunters

Look, that's all very well in principle but the BNP is widely known as a violent, racist party, despite it's pretensions. So whlie I'm prepared to support its right to exist and voice its opinions as long as they don't advocate violence, you're damn right I'm going to vilify its members.

Don't muddy this with nationalism - if you're of that persuasion but oppose violence, you can join UKIP. Myself, I think it's safe to assume anyone who not only votes for but actively joins up, has some pretty nasty views.

@BNP WITCH hunters @ 10:21 GMT

Agree completely.

This list could of course be completely fabricated, just to make fools of all those who actively searched for it......never mind those who might act on it.

Just because the party has views that might be distasteful, doesn't make it right to publish the data.

There are any number of political parties and organisations,and individuals for that matter, whose views I find odious. But there is no justification for publishing their personal details anywhere.

The BNP are more like the Native American Indians

or the Tibetans, without the casinos or the nice scenery.

The democrats are more racist than the BNP, and I think you will find it hard to join the Democrats unless you are a USA National.

And the USA require people to give up foreign citizenship to have only USA citizenship how racist is that, no dual nationality from the racist merkin system. Plus, only people of ethnic US descent can become president, Arnold Schwarzeneger has run into that racist glass ceiling hasn't he, had to settle for California.

Lots of countries are institutionally racist

I live in Bangkok at the moment. Here you have no right to buy land, a low change of permenent residency unless you've lived here for many many years and are married to a Thai national and almost zero chance of becoming a full citizen.

People in the UK should wake up and realise that they are one of the few countries who tries to treat all people the same when very much the opposite would and does happen to British people all around the world on a daily basis.

Re: Last two BNP supporters

@AC 11:28

Lots of people are rapists too, that doesn't make rape a legitimate enterprise. If everyone were to sit back and say "well they treat people badly, so we might as well too" then there would never be any advancement or improvement in the standards of life.

@AC 00:49

Your comparisons are hilarious in their surreality, if perplexing. You see, the Dalai Lama preaches freedom of cultural expression, peace and harmony. The BNP deliberately seek to cultivate hatred with constantly inaccurate reactionary propaganda, and condone racist violence.

Secondly, you're wrong to state people can't join the Democrats unless they're an American citizen; you can join if you're an alien with permanent residence. That's a legal requirement for giving money to an American political party, and nothing to do with Democrat policy. The comparison does nothing but emphasise the vile racism of the BNP, who actively discriminate on the basis of skin colour.

@Alastair Smith

By "we don't keep logs", they mean that they don't record any user-identifying information. No IP addresses or such. They may track which URIs are being requested, but there's no harm in that when they don't also track /who/ made those requests.