Two people have been charged under Section 55 of the Data Protection Act* with leaking the BNP’s membership list, including contact details and family information.

From the Guardian:

The list, which identified thousands of people linked to the far-right party, was posted on the web in November 2008. Information included addresses and other contact information such as mobile phone numbers and the names and ages of children in a family membership.

Dyfed-Powys police said a 27-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were charged under the Data Protection Act after a joint investigation with the Information Commissioner’s Office. The pair lived in the Nottingham area at the time of the leak.

The fallout included the outing of police, lawyers, teachers and church figures as BNP members, with some complaining the leak exposed them to the risk of dismissal or disciplinary action. Some included on the list, which ran to 13,000 names, complained they had been mistakenly included after only asking for information on the party. Others said they were no longer members.

When the list was published in 2008, BNP leader Nick Griffin said that the party would use the Human Rights Act (which the BNP opposes) to protect its members’ identities.

*(Section 55 states that it is a criminal offence to “knowingly or recklessly obtain or disclose personal information” without consent.)