Encryption and the BNP membership list - does your political party or campaign group protect your personal details with encryption ?
The Guardian has a report from Yet Another Undercover Journalist who has managed to infiltrate the British National Party, as the local organiser in Central London, for 7 months.
The most interesting revelation was the use which the BNP apparently makes of encryption in order to protect their membership lists, although obviously not from authorised insiders.
Nick explained that the lists of local members and former members would be sent to me in encrypted emails. He slid a brown envelope across the table: inside was a CD which held the software which would enable me to decode them. He also asked me to write down the elaborate password I must use with the software: "the KING was born on 31 FEBRUARY."
No matter what you think of their odious politics, and whether or not you believe that their current leadership is genuinely trying to move away from their thuggish past, the use of encryption to protect the BNP membership lists is something to be applauded.
Does your political party or campaign group, or local church or other place of religious worship, or local school parents/teachers association etc. protect your personal details with strong encryption, or not ?
If not, then why not ?
Download some free strong encryption software from Pretty Good Privacy or TrueCrypt
Comments
"Odious politics" why not add racist to your list.Get real the BNP is a Nationalist party and unless we protect our culture we won't have one!
Posted by: Harry | December 21, 2006 11:52 PM
@ Harry - even without the racism, which you mentioned first, the BNP's politics are still odious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party
Posted by: wtwu | December 22, 2006 12:53 AM
I signed up to the neo labour mailing list because; as you may know I am a big neo labour supporter. (I just wanted to read the propaganda in order to maintain a balanced mind)
This was until I got so sick of it that I couldn't stand it any longer. I hit unsubscribe, but guess what; I still get neo labour emails and cannot get off their subscriber list.
Posted by: Jake Long | December 22, 2006 1:48 AM
@ Jake - are these emails being sent directly from a Labour party IP address range, or by a third party Public Relations company ?
You could filter them or report them, just like any other spam emails.
Posted by: wtwu | December 22, 2006 2:10 AM
Think you may find with a little research Wikipedia is not THE oracle of truth.Wikipedia is a Liberal politically motivated organisation telling half truths at best.
Posted by: Harry | December 22, 2006 10:06 AM
@ Harry - which part of the Wikipedia article on the BNP are you claiming is inaccurate ? There are lots of half truths and half baked nonsense in the BNP 2005 election manifesto.
Are you actually a member of the BNP ?
Posted by: wtwu | December 22, 2006 10:54 AM
Given the repulsive nature of BNP politics it's hardly surprising that members want to keep their names secret for fear of public ridicule.
Posted by: Bob Mottram | December 22, 2006 12:32 PM
@ Bob - there is no excuse for any political party or campaign group in the UK, not to protect their membership lists in transit via email, by using strong encryption.
Posted by: wtwu | December 22, 2006 2:52 PM
@ WTWU - I will have to get back to you on that; my server has just fallen over taking with it about 1TB of data and apps.
I have already filtered them, but once again, it is the principle rather than the fact that I cannot get rid of them.
If I unsubscribe from their emails, I expect my details to be removed from their database/s.
I will see what IP address they are coming from when I get my servers back online.
Posted by: Jake Long | December 22, 2006 3:12 PM
If I unsubscribe from their emails, I expect my details to be removed from their database/s.
Expect? This is Neo Labour we're talking about... BTW I coined that term. ;)
Posted by: Dave Gould | December 23, 2006 12:52 PM
I fail to agree that they should be applauded for anything.
Perhaps you would also applaud hitler for using the enigma machine. Your logic (what little there is) seems to be that so long as this malicious bunch of jumped up boot boys uses computer equipment thats fine - hey that makes them civilised
you idiot !
Posted by: einstein in comparison | December 24, 2006 12:50 AM
@ einstein - the innocent, law abiding, members of any political party, which has not been Proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, deserve to be protected from fraud and harassment.
Does your political party or campaign group use strong encryption to protect its membership details in transit via email ?
If not, then they are even less competent, and less worthy of support, than even the BNP are.
Of course we welcome Hitler's over confidence and over reliance on vulnerable cryptographic systems.
Posted by: wtwu | December 24, 2006 4:16 PM
Yes, let us be thankful of our freedoms in the UK to express our political beliefs without fear.
Unless you happen to support the BNP that is.
Posted by: winstonsmithjr | December 28, 2006 4:06 PM