BNP Mashup = Sh*t + Fan = ?

The buzz on Twitter this morning as been the mashups possible based on the "mislayed" database of the British National Party's (a UK far right party) database - such as linking to Google maps to see where they live (see the picture).



Mike Butcher put the scoop out so deserves the link for the analysis:

The implications of this action are pretty big. I speculated on Twitter this morning that a mashup which identified the actual locations of BNP members would be highly problematic, and possibly even subject to vigilante attack. However I still believe that a map which showed more general areas, like towns and cities, could actually be helpful to local authorities for creating policies to tackle attitudes towards diversity. If you were a local councillor and had been made aware that there were lots of BNP members in your area, you may be able to do something about the attitudes which lead to support for such a far-right political party.

But now this more accurate map is out of the bag, and others are probably planning similar maps, the implications are far reaching. What no-one would wish is for a witch-hunt to begin.

My contribution on Twitter, tongue in cheek this morning, was that if they think this is bad wait till the telemarketers get this data

However, there is a more sober point, re vigilantes etc as Mike notes. 3 weeks ago I was at the Berlin Web Expo which was held in the AlexanderPlatz, the centre of Old East Berlin. To get into the mood I read, along with Marx et al, a book called StasiLand - about the experience of life under the Stasi (secret police). Did you know at the end 1 in about 80 people was an informer fo the Stasi? This drove a society of doubt, paranoia and odd behaviour. And this is a potential dark side of social media as well, as the above example shows.

Where will it all end? I don't know, but clearly the value of your data is valuable not just for positive benefits, but also negative (by the way, am I the only one who is wondering why so much valuable user data is getting "lost" right now?)