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.
Charles that is because you are the Scarlet Pumpernickel. These guys do get around, could be a Mel Gibson movie.
Ian (16:36:39) :
😉 As a Canuck, could never understand how I was living in the Great White North (Toronto) at 43 degrees north when London 51 degrees north, Paris 48 degrees north, and Loch Ness 57 degrees north are a lot closer to the arctic circle than I am. We’re having a very low snow year (it’s because I bought a snowblower this year) we’ve easily had a several orders of magnitude less than Washington DC winter season this year (not normal).
God bless the “slowly, slowly, cathchee monkee” approach. I hope you’re right but from my perspective it looks like they’re working the harassment FOIA defence angle.
Cheers!
CTM: I don’t know if anyone ever told you this, but don’t talk to the cops.
Really. Not even English ones.
Watch this before saying anything further: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik
thanks everyone. i believe i am cooperating fully with transparency. to the person who asked. the photo is a couple months old. -ctm via mobile from a party in the haight.
On a matter of geography, why is a Norfolk Constabulary team based at a Suffolk police station?
Oh, you had to bring that up! 🙂
Nice volley, ctm.
Members of the press have always been granted immunity for whistle blowing cases, going back to at least Watergate in 1972. CTM is untouchable.
LOL – CTM: TMI IMO… FWIW. (YMMV)
or:
Uh oh, the jig’s up, the coppers are on to us…
(for the humor impaired, that last WAS intended purely as humor!)
Surely the notice should have read “alleged theft”.
I’ve not seen anything yet to suggest that the release of the emails was even a result of a criminal act .
Hang in there, Charles!
My recommendation:
Be true to yourself,
Do what is right, and
Let go of the outcome.
Best wishes,
Oliver K. Manuel
Hmmm – somehow I completely skipped the rest (stupid laptop)
CTM, TMI IMO WRT UEA CRU. AGW FTW! LOL
Reply: I made that my Facebook Status. ~ ctm
He’s probably a fine, competent guy and all. . . I just always think of Richard Jewell in this kind of situation. Some breed of cop just like to grab the nearest live body next to the dead one and call it a day.
I hope we soon find out who- [fill in appropriate verb- fitting your politics] the CRU e-mails as it is the most intriguing leak since Watergate which brought down Nixon. It took 25 years before we really discovered who “Deep Throat” was. The speculation and finger pointing was almost too much to endure. That is waaay too long for this caper. If the investigative action ultimately leads to a “criminal” charge, I have $100 ready to add to a defense fund. So I hope someone “soon” will come forth and legitimately say: “I did it!!”
Not being familiar with British common law if that is what is involved here. Some years ago I was a police officer in Fl. U.S.A. When we received a report of a crime the report was treated as a statement of sworn fact. While it seems slow there at that time begins two investigations. 1. to determine if there actually was a crime committed. and 2. If a crime was committed who was the perpetrator.
I have a suspicion that this is more turning into a determination of did a crime actually occur. It seems that this was a publicly funded facility and by that definition “public facility” there is no right of privacy. It has already been determined that the blockage of the FOIA requests was a crime but beyond the statute of limitations. The release of the same information that was a crime to not release I would feel would not be a crime.
Me thinks that some one is in trouble at UEA but possibly for the reporting of a false accusation and statement. There is a possibility that the report of a crime will be determined as unfounded. This will have a by product of the possibility of an investigation of filing a false report at multiple levels.
The original charge of theft will be in use by the authorities until it is either falsified or the charge is dropped. if there is an arrest and conviction it will remain.
I think some balloons are about to pop above UEA.
Bill Derryberry
Re: “Leaked” emails
It always reminds me of “Yes Minister” where civil servant Bernard Woolley explains to the Minister about the verb “to leak”:
climatebeagle (16:41:17) :
I would guess they call it a theft because that’s what they were asked to investigate by CRU. Not sure the police would have the authority to investigate a whistleblower. Their investigation may come to the conclusion that it was not theft.
They call it a theft because that’s what it was (unless you think it was circulated by the owner of the material), it doesn’t meet the definition of a ‘whistleblower’.
Regarding jurisdiction, the US has a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the UK.
Bravo CTM. You’re now an international man of mystery.
Carbon Dioxide (15:49:59) :
You could also add that:
1) The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have stated that Phil Jones and UEA acted unlawfully by failing to comply with your lawfully submitted FOI request.
Better to tell the truth.
That’s a little too much information I needed about you Charles. I trust you just the way you are, ie CTM.
Don’t worry ctm. We’ll protect you…………….. I’m sparticus!…;-)
So I suppose it wouldn’t be that amusing to tell the Norfolk Constabulary that you were going to file a FOI request to see their investigative results?
PJP (17:12:55) : wrote
CTM: I don’t know if anyone ever told you this, but don’t talk to the cops.
Really. Not even English ones.
Watch this before saying anything further: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik
Thanks for the link. I have seen this one, a must see for everyone.
CTM,
Read Detective Constable Baker’s email again.
He leads off with “I am part of the enquiry team who are investigating the theft of data from the UEA in Norwich last year.”
Interesting.
Baker does not say what theft of data he is referring to only saying it was sometime last year. Interesting. There was the unauthorized release of emails and data in late November, the one everyone knows about. Is this what Baker is referring to?
My Mere Speculation Begins here:
My point is, while investigating the publicly known unauthorized release at UEA in late Nov, has the Norwich police or any other org investigating UEA/CRU come across other 2009 events involving unauthorized releases of email/data from UES/CRU? If they have then it would be reasonable for them to withhold that info during the continuing investigation.
Hey, if I was a policeman I might set up an interview that ostensibly is talking about one public release but fishing for knowledge about another release at UEA that is not public knowledge.
My Mere Speculation End Here
New Topic – Anyone, is it normal for a British policeman to contact a US citizen at home in the US regarding a British police matter? Curious.
John
OMG, is this the new “helping police with their enquiries” ??
Having a chat, over a cup of tea ??
You’re toast Charles. Ha ha ha.
wonder if they have contacted Paul Hudson at BBC and his bosses. some may consider Hudson a “red herring”, but i don’t; in fact, I feel Hudson’s 9 Oct “Whatever Happened To Global Warming” piece may have been the straw that broke the camel (or even whistleblower’s) back.
26 Nov: Hull Daily: Look North weatherman Paul Hudson in climate change
scandal
Mr Hudson, a climate change expert, says documents allegedly sent between
some of the world’s leading scientists – which discuss how to “spin” climate
data – are a direct result of an article he wrote.
His essay, written last month, argued that for the last 11 years there had
not been an increase in global temperatures.
It also presented counter-arguments to the belief man’s actions are warming
the planet.
The weather presenter – who is also honorary mayor of Wetwang, near
Driffield – claims he was sent the leaked e-mails, which were apparently
taken from servers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit,
over a month ago.
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Look-North-weatherman-Paul-Hudson-climate-change-scandal/article-1552079-detail/article.html
(the public comments are indeed interesting)
27 Nov: Hull Daily: BBC weatherman in global warming row
When contacted by the Mail, the weatherman said he was not allowed to
comment and asked us to speak to the BBC press office.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Paul wrote a blog for the BBC website on October
9 entitled Whatever Happened To Global Warming. There was a big reaction to
the article – not just here but around the world. Among those who responded
were Professor Michael E Mann and Stephen Schneider whose e-mails were among a small handful forwarded to Paul on October 12.
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/BBC-weatherman-global-warming-row/article-1553969-detail/article.html
(could anything in this blog post give any clues Hudson received anything on this date from Mann/Schneider etc?)
12 Oct: Paul Hudson: A few points about my article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/2009/10/a-few-points-about-my-article.shtml
23 Nov: ‘Climategate’ – CRU hacked into and its implications
I was forwarded the chain of e-mails on the 12th October, which are comments from some of the worlds leading climate scientists written as a direct result of my article ‘whatever happened to global warming’. The e-mails released on the internet as a result of CRU being hacked into are identical to the ones I was forwarded and read at the time and so, as far as l can see, they are authentic.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/2009/11/climategate-cru-hacked-into-an.shtml
the direct link from hudson is to some of the most explosive emails, some including the date 14th October and certainly indicate no-one from “the team” had as yet contacted Hudson:
East Anglia Confirmed Emails from the Climate Research Unit – 1255523796.txt
http://www.anelegantchaos.org/cru/emails.php?eid=1052&filename=1255523796.txt
the fact Hudson linked to the entire cache of emails suggests he was authenticating more than a few emails from Mann/Schneider, even tho Hudson toed BBC’s line later:
24 Nov: Paul Hudson: ‘Climategate’ – What next?
As you may know, some of the e-mails that were released last week directly involved me and one of my previous blogs, ‘Whatever happened to global warming ?’
These took the form of complaints about its content, and I was copied in to them at the time. ..
However I felt that seeing there was an ongoing debate as to the authenticity of the hacked e-mails, I was duty bound to point out that as I had read the original e-mails, then at least these were authentic, although of course I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the others…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/2009/11/climategate-what-next.shtml
am not necessarily suggesting a “whistleblower” first sent Hudson the entire cache of emails, which anyway go beyond the 12th October date, tho it is possible he received them all and, when BBC did nothing, the “whistleblower” added to the cache and kept releasing them in November until some “wonderful people” had the courage to keep them online.
BBC should release what they claim is “a small handful” of emails, including some from Mann/Schneider that were allegedly “forwarded” (not copied?) to Paul Hudson.
Hudson is just back from a break:
23 Feb: BBC: Paul Hudson: Unusual winter weather patterns continue
A feature of this winter has been the unusual position of the jet stream.
For the last week or so it has once again positioned itself through Spain
and Portugal, North Africa and the Mediterranean and is the reason for the
violent storms in Madeira that led to the incredible flash floods that most
of you will have seen on TV…
Also, I thought you might be interested in this; while I was away on holiday
Roger Harrabin, the BBC’s environment analyst interviewed Professor Phil
Jones who is director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University
of East Anglia (UEA). The article is in the form of a question and answers
session and can be read in full by clicking here. Some of the questions echo
some of your comments when I wrote about the UEA on this blog recently.
Finally It’s going to be a close run thing – but with only one week left of
winter (winter being classified climatologically as Dec, Jan and Feb) –
there’s a chance that it will turn out to be the coldest winter based on the
central England temperature range (CET) since 1978/79, although there is
also a chance it may only be the coldest since 1981/82, depending on how far
north milder air pushes this week. I’ll be doing a review of this winter’s
statistics as soon as I have them to hand.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/2010/02/unusual-winter-weather-pattern.shtml