by charles the moderator
I received the following this morning,
Dear Mr Rotter
I am part of the enquiry team who are investigating the theft of data from the UEA in Norwich last year.
As part of the investigation we would like to speak to everyone who has made any requests for information relating to the CRU at the UEA.
Records indicate that you made such a request last year and as a result I would like to discuss this and any other knowledge you may have with you at a convenient time.
Please can you contact me (I would suggest initially by e mail) leaving a contact number so that we can have a chat.
Kind regards
Sean Baker
Sean Baker
Detective Constable
Joint Major Investigation Team
Norfolk Constabulary
Lowestoft Police Station
Old Nelson Street
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR32 1PE
Tel: xxx
Mobile: xxxx
This e-mail carries a disclaimer [this was a dead link. Put here for reference. ~ ctm]
Go here to view Norfolk Constabulary Disclaimer
I responded within a few hours with this:
I can be reached at xxx. I work nights so please don’t call before noon PST. I’m in San Francisco. Between noon and 1 PM is the best time to contact me.
I have previously posted my entire involvement with the CRU leaked emails and files online here:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/13/climategate%E2%80%94the-ctm-story/
I’m not sure what else you would like to know. I’ll see if I can cover it in advance.
1. I have never received any money for my volunteer services at wattsupwiththat.com
2. I met Steve McIntyre once for dinner two years ago when he was in town for AGU. I paid for the dinner.
3. I read Climate Audit.
4. [personal info]
5. [personal info]
6. [personal info]
7. I am 51, turning 52 next month.
I understand that you are diligently performing your investigation, and I’m not sure how well you understand the perspective from this side of the fence.
The multiple FOI’s were submitted in response to Phil Jones’s obstruction of the scientific process of verification and replication. Had he behaved as any scientist should, no FOI requests would have been required and it would have been ten minutes work to respond to the original request. The CRU began moving the goal posts, making up more and more unbelievable reasons why they should not give data to perceived critics, thus causing the subsequent FOI’s and escalation, in which I participated. It seems likely that soon after Steve McIntyre’s appeal was denied, someone at the University of East Anglia, disgusted by what he or she witnessed, subsequently leaked the files. I have no knowledge or direct evidence that this is the case, but it is the explanation that makes the most sense.
If you would like more information on the escalation of FOI requests and the obstruction by CRU, as confirmed by your own ICO, I can dig up the relevant threads.
You guys are really tempting me to engage in a project.
How to date a climate model.
CTM – Would do well to practice his “PERP WALK” just in case…the old boy scout motto of “being prepared”…
CTM- Would your climate model come with those “…for dummies” instructions?
Can’t you guys see the grey hair on his chin? 😉
Oh man I just got the power back on today after the “snowocane” whacked us here in New Hampshire. Five days without power… I’ll be writing something up about this. Note: this cyclonic nor’easter has given us above average temps here for this time of March (I like to think that it blew Boston’s UHI up this way), but the constant snow cover definitely insulated us from radiating heat to space at night. Temps have ranged from high 20’s to low 40’s, when the norm is between 11 to 20 degrees F. The higher temps are a RESULT of the storm, not its cause, the cloud cover insulating us at night, the last two days the night time temps have not gone below 29-32 F , when normally they’d go sub-zero. Now that the storm is moving offshore, we have open skies tonite and the temp is now falling again. Its 30F now at 8:30pm, and should reach the low 20s.
I find Eon Pengwern’s comment above quite scary. The fact they are calling on both Special Branch and the Domestic Extremism Unit for this investigation – and enquiring into political views! – displays a very unpleasant attitude to legitimate intellectual freedoms. The ‘secret ballot’ is of course a fiction as every ballot paper is numbered…
On Feb 25 at 16:15 I left a comment saying that I hadn’t been contacted by the Norfolk constabulatory. It turns out that they had been attempting for some time, but had an incorrect e-mail address.
Their Feb 23 letter just finally caught up with me and I’ve given DC Baker my current contact info. We’ll see where it goes from here.
It appears that the UK police are treating all FOIA requestors as suspects in a crime. I wonder if the chilling effect that has on future FOIA requests is intended, appropriate, and legal.
Eos Pengwern (09:38:45) : 28Feb said “After making a similar FOI request last summer, I was contacted by Norfolk Constabulary about six weeks ago and, after a short e-mail correspondence, interviewed for about an hour over the telephone. They wanted to know what I thought about the general AGW issue, what my connections were with other skeptics, what my political affiliations were, and all sorts of background stuff. ”
That a very intesting set of questions. A bit strange if the only intent of the investigation is to determine if there was a theft of e-mails and who did it. My intent is to decline to discuss such matters as my opinions and connections with others (or lack thereof) are IMO not relevant to the investigation.
OTOH, perhaps I will discuss in detail my connections with the NASA quality of information people, and point them to the Request for Correction regarding Sea Levels and other items at NASA Chief Information Officer webpage, http://www.sti.nasa.gov/qualinfo.html
Those NASA people are truly scary activists and revolutionaries, on a mission to convert others, and should be very closely monitored and observed.