Account promoting plan locked after tweet and participation form spark online outrage
MP Chris Williamson, who had to hold a meeting outdoors last week when two Brighton venues cancelled because they had received threats of violence, has been urged to contact police after new, coordinated plan against him at next months Labour conference, also in Brighton, was publicised on social media.
Twitter account ‘willuminare’ asked people to sign up for ‘direct action’ against Williamson, pointing them to a sign-up form (Wayback Machine archive copy here) on Google Forms to collect their details.
However, in spite of data protection laws the form does not provide any details of who will hold any information provided or how it will be used.
Both the absence of ‘data controller’/purpose details and the idea of coordinating unspecified ‘direct action’ just days after threats of violence caused venues to cancel last week have led some of Williamson’s supporters to urge him to contact police.
Once the reaction against the form began, the ‘willuminare’ account – which says it is run by an “activist for @UKLabour, @CoOpParty, @PeoplesMomentum & @OpenLabour” – was locked, but screenshots of the tweet had been created. Some who warned Twitter users against the campaign were blocked:
According to Companies House, the business of which Twitter user ‘willuminare’ claims to be co-owner is run by one William Michael Sorenson. If the profile’s claims are accurate, Mr Sorenson is a Labour member in the Oxford area.
However, the ownership of the Google form and who will hold and use the data are unclear,
The SKWAWKBOX contacted Mr Sorenson for comment on the calls for the involvement of the police and on the data protection law issues. In spite of the claim of the profile to be “online, all of the time”, no response was received by the time of publication.
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