Personally I don’t think Russian spies had anything to do with it. A our own Charles The Moderator recently explained in The CRUtape Letters™, an Alternative Explanation, it is looking more and more like a leak than a hack. I’ll have a much more detailed post on this soon.
From the Telegraph
Climategate: was Russian secret service behind email hacking plot?
There was growing speculation on Sunday that hackers working for the Russian secret service were responsible for the theft of controversial emails in the ‘Climategate’ scandal.
Thousands of emails, from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were first published on a small server in the city of Tomsk in Siberia.
So-called ‘patriot hackers’ from Tomsk have been used in the past by the Russian secret service, the FSB, to attack websites disliked by the Kremlin, such as the “denial of service” campaign launched against the Kavkaz-Tsentr website, over its reports about the war in Chechnya, in 2002.
Russia, a major oil exporter, may be trying to undermine calls to reduce carbon emissions ahead of the Copenhagen summit on global warming. The CRU emails included remarks which some claim show scientists had manipulated the figures to make them fit the theory that humans are causing global warming.
Achim Steiner, the director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said the theft of emails from CRU, which is a world-renowned centre for climate research, had similarities with the Watergate scandal which brought down US President Richard Nixon.
But he said: “This is not climategate, it’s hackergate. Let’s not forget the word ‘gate’ refers to a place [the Watergate building] where data was stolen by people who were paid to do so.
“So the media should direct its investigations into that.”
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said he believed the theft of the emails was not the work of amateur climate sceptics.
“It’s very common for hackers in Russia to be paid for their services,” he told The Times.
“If you look at that mass of emails a lot of work was done, not only to download the data but it’s a carefully made selection of emails and documents that’s not random at all.
“This is 13 years of data and it’s not a job of amateurs.”
Mr van Ypersele said the expose was making it more difficult to persuade the 192 countries going to Copenhagen of the need to cut carbon emissions.
“One effect of this is to make scientists lose lots of time checking things. We are spending a lot of useless time discussing this rather than spending time preparing information for the negotiators,” he said.
However he insisted the emails did not change the science. “It doesn’t change anything in the IPCC’s conclusions. It’s only one line of evidence out of dozens of lines of evidence,” he said.
A Russian hacking specialist told the Mail on Sunday: “There is no hard evidence that the hacking was done from Tomsk, though it might have been. There has been speculation the hackers were Russian.
“It appears to have been a sophisticated and well-run operation, that had a political motive given the timing in relation to Copenhagen.”
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Wow, i am at a loss for words. Must be the excessive CO2 in the air…brain damages.
Nope, it doesn’t affect the “science.”
The “science” was crap to start; and it’s still crap.
Desperation drives speculation. Sounds like an inside job to me, maybe someone with moral standards that has had to struggle with the issue of being a whistle blower.
This news article is very entertaining. Maybe some imaginative movie director will make a movie out this one, other than that it sounds like another IPCC conspiracy story to cover up the real truth. Also under the whistle blower laws, I would assume the person’s, that leaked this data, identity is protected and apparently does not want to come forward. If the person or persons does not come forward I do not blame them, but in the event they do they would be harolded as real life heroes. Especially if this is what brings it all to an end. Here is to freedom and hope of continued freedom.
I would also like to ponder the possible outcomes, albeit far fetched, of the Russians not liking being accussed of such a terrible thing. Would they go to war over this to prove it was not them or would they let the world believe it was them. This would make them enemies either way to the AGW One World Government. Just a thought.
Just in time.
The people need to know why the planet is currently cooling. I don’t think it is that complicated. It is the heat from the Sun that warms the planet, and the lack of the Sun’s heat that cools it.
Can a lull in solar activity head off climate change?
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/12/07/can_a_lull_in_solar_activity_head_off_climate_change/
Just as the phrase “the science is settled” was concocted and repeated as a public relations strategy, this too seems to be the AGWs attempt at mis-direction:
“So the media should direct its investigations into that.”
Yeah, right! Don’t look at the issue – find and blame the messenger.
Then there is this repeated nonsense:
“CRU, which is a world-renowned centre for climate research …”
Say what? “world-renowned” Sure, read about them here:
http://www.norcalblogs.com/commission/archives/2009/11/men-behaving-ba.html
Question: Are there any females mixed up in this? I know there are some on the receiving end of the c— from the “Team” – are there any with close ties to this bunch?
It is really interesting what Van Ypersele said:
—————————————————————-
Mr. van Ypersele said the expose was making it more difficult to persuade the 192 countries going to Copenhagen of the need to cut carbon emissions.
“One effect of this is to make scientists lose lots of time checking things. We are spending a lot of useless time discussing this rather than spending time preparing information for the negotiators,” he said.
——————————————————————-
Considering the large amount of money involved and the potential reshaping of world economies I think it is very arrogant to make this complaint about this being useless time spent checking the emails and data. Maybe he/they should have been a bit more skeptical originally.
Kristinn (21:51:26) :
Deflection and distraction.
I’m surprised they haven’t tried blaming the other pantomime villain: the Saudis.
Saudis, Russian, etc.
Matt Damon will probably star in a movie as the guy who exposes the Russian/Saudi/big oil/denier plot.
“Pay no attention to that bunch of shoddy, grant-grubbing, snarky pseudoscientists behind that Climategate curtain! Look over HERE! See the big, bad Russians! They know how to hack. Ooooh! Naughty people! Commies, remember? They want to torpedo our precious, our Copenshaggin’. How dare they!
“Oh. You don’ t buy it. Well, uh, then, uh, look over THERE! Iran! Iran has all the technology they need to make atomic weapons! The New York Times has ‘leaked’ that information, so it must be true. We must now tax your buns off to deal with Iran. Maybe we can go bow to them, but let’s take along a couple jillion dollars, just in case. We’ll let ACORN carry the cash in small bills in a couple of suitcases.”
Coming soon to a theater near you: OBAMAGATE!
Ian (21:38:37) :
Sorry, my post earlier was wrong. Times is saying post to ClimateAudit (not upload to Russian server) was from Saudi. All sounds like speculation to me, inside job or dumb ass FTP server admin still gets my vote.
Lubos, anonymous proxies make an IP impossible (certainly impossible without the cooperation of Russian police). Unless the hacker/leaker made a mistake, the trail goes cold at the proxy.
The more obvious question is, what kind of knowledge does an IPCC official have regarding this? None, unless it’s through back channels. This is, until shown otherwise, wild speculation, and probably an attempt to politically damage the CRUtape letters™ by implying that it’s a nefarious Russian plot to damage Gaia for the benefit of the oligarchs. Lenin would be proud, if it weren’t for the amateurish way they’re going about this.
OT … Aligner (21:39:50) : The Times is running similar rubbish. See comments, the public isn’t buying it and who can blame them.
The ratio of comments on online boards (following articles) seems to have shifted significantly. I’ve certainly not done a credible analysis, but it seems that a few months ago the pro-AGW comments probably outnumbered skeptic comments by 2:1. And now it is the other way around. People seem to be pi$$ed.
I belong to a group that disseminates credible climate information and hits have increased 3 to 5 fold in the past three months … now at 40K per day.
However, the Copenhagen media hype is just getting ridiculous. If I manage to survive the next tens days … sheesh.
They must really be afraid of whoever it was who leaked them, I can’t think of any other reason why they would keep blaming everything else.
Pro-tip to CRU spin doctors, Hackers wouldn’t spend hours online compiling exactly what the skeptics would need to cast doubt on you, they would download everything randomly and the effects would be much less painful for you. Find something else to blame, or, in a move that would be best for everyone, openly admit that one of your FOIA officers actually has a conscience and leaked this out because they understood the significance of your refusal.
You don’t want to admit that, because it would cast doubt on your FOIA refusals and incriminate you as an organization.
tsk tsk.
Darned capitalists in Russia trying to interfere with our socialist plans for world government. What do they think they are doing?
Oh, wait a moment, isn’t that what they used to say about us 50 years ago?
Also, let’s not forget the breakin that was reported at Realclimate. If indeed it happened, that would suggest 1) someone trying to yank their chain, and 2) probably someone on the climate inside. It doesn’t make any sense for Russians to hack RC. It makes more sense to get the file out the way they did it.
The Russians may be responsible for a lot of things, but this isn’t one of them.
Russia certainly has a vested interested in trying to maintain high demand for their huge oil exports. And no doubt the Russian FSB has both the will and the skill to ”facilitate” technically sophisticated hacking attacks in the furtherance of said cause if they were so inclined; either directly or via some of the capable techies at Tomsk State University.
But at least from what has been reported so far, I tend to agree with comment at thread start:
This really has the feel of an inside job by somebody who knew what they were doing from the get-go.
SIDEBAR: If it was an inside job, I’d call him or her a courageous whistleblower; and not a leaker. . . .
In any case: Whether it was the Russian FSB or their proxies in Tomsk or an internal whistleblower:
Three cheers for whoever pulled it off:
They did a major good deed for the world at large; even if it WAS a hack (and if it was, I would argue that this is a case of ”justifiable hacking”).
You know, if this story is true (and I truely, truely doubt that it is), I love the irony that Russia is helping defend democracy / capitalism.
For John F. Hultquist ☺ ☺
John John John!! You said, “Are there any females mixed up in this? I know there are some on the receiving end of the c— from the “Team” – are there any with close ties to this bunch?”
Did you NOT see the item on Copenhagen hookers giving freebies to the inner circle of climategate? Men behaving badly … once again!
♀♂♀
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Leak? what leak?
Hack? what hack?
All this was in the hands of the BBC and its correspondent in mid October.
It was a perfectly legal release of data in response to a request. And was kept confidential.
That it then spread over the internet is neither here nor there.
In that there is no conspiracy, no leakers, no hackers or anything else.
This was public information made available under the law of the UK.
And that is all. What ever anyone may suggest to the contrary to suit their political agenda.
Kindest Regards
And now this from our friendly neighbourhood post-normal dork …
“Copenhagen summit: Yes, climate change is real but this conference is the wrong way to go about tackling it, argues professor Mike Hulme of the University of East Anglia”
Oh! Oh! penny finally dropped has it? A bit off message there, Mike. What about all that World Bank consultancy on your CV, they’re not going to be happy with that sort of sentiment right now, are they? Watch your back now!
Don’t worry, James Bond and George Smiley are on the case.
According to New Scientist it was an attack by data terrorists:
“”researchers have been inundated over the past few years with what feel like unreasonable and malicious demands for their raw data. They fear the hacking of their emails is the culmination of a concerted attack by data terrorists.””
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427363.200-researchers-must-stay-on-the-moral-high-ground.html
Actually it almost sounds like they are calling those requesting the data terrorists not just the hackers.
A Russian hacking specialist told the Mail on Sunday: “Look! These bananas are shaped just like the hockey stick temperature curve.”
“And I only want £10,000 for my information”
He added
If the hackers wanted to ruins Copenhagen they would have done this long ago to give us plenty of time to run over the emails and code. Therefore it is unlikely the work of hackers and most likely Watts’ theory is correct. CRU were trying to buy as much time as possible as the emails indicate and had no intention of releasing the documents until laws and regulations were drawn up.
What idiotic secret operation would announce the stolen files on a server in their own country? Maybe the media thinks the Russian secret agents work the same way the climate secret agents work.