While Wikileaks makes headline this week for releasing thousands of diplomatic cables, clueless journalist Tom Chivers of the telegraph does a roundup of “Wikileaks’ 10 greatest stories“. He lists this without realizing that Wikileaks was late to the party started on Climate blogs, including Climate Audit, The Air Vent, Climate-Skeptic.com, Lucia’s Blackboard, and WUWT.
More than 1,000 emails sent over 10 years by staff at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit were posted on Wikileaks after being accessed by a hacker. They appeared to show that scientists engaged in “tricks” to help bolster arguments that global warming is real and man-made. One said: “I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature [the science journal] trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.” The report was described by sceptical commenters as “the worst scientific scandal of our generation“. The head of the CRU, Professor Phil Jones, stepped down from his role in the wake of the leak, although following a House of Commons inquiry which found that he had no case to answer he was reinstated.
This reporter’s lack of research aside, the Wikileaks issue and it’s damaging impacts are summed up quite well in this article from the Globe and Mail by a former diplomat who was responsible for reporting on human rights violations:
It’s not just the militant activist in Guelph, Ont., reading the cables. It’s the military dictatorships and the secret police in capitals all around the world. In the days and weeks ahead, people who dared to share information with U.S. diplomats will be rounded up. And thousands more who may have been willing to pass on pictures of tortured bodies will keep them in the desk drawer instead.
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Three reasons for this problem with WL:
One; The US Government went from paper to digital classified documents
Two: The US Government reaction to 9/11.
Three: a significant lost of allegiance to the US government by its citizens.
Causes easy access and distribution of US Government secrets.
Perhpas it isn’t clueless so much as calculated?
Never waste a good crisis; how many will read this misinformation and believe that WikiLeaks invented “Climategate”?
A potential reimaging begins.
If this happened back several centuries ago in the uk. then the author of Wikileaks would be doing the Tyburn Jig very shortly after being caught.
The Telegraph has some good reporters and some that write first without checking the whole story.
The Telegraph also blundered a few days ago when it implied that a collection of new journal articles published by the Royal Society support wartime-style rationing.
Only one person mentioned in the news article – Kevin Anderson – supports this measure. He has done so for years. I have found no discussion whatsoever of rationing in the 14 Royal Society-published papers.
Kevin Anderson: The Ration Card Man
Part of the “problem” here is that our “State Department” consists of many very FOOLISH PEOPLE.
In a way, this is a good thing, as working with “fools” is not a bright idea.
I notice that Wiki-leaks has not accessed MI-5’s information nor the Isrealie intelligence group’s work. Hopefully, both of those have the Mafia equivalent of “cement boots” for those who would betry their inside information.
How does someone so totally incompetant keep his job ?
This isnt a small mistake. Every journalist and editor in the world know all about Climategate. The *EXTREME* efforts they went to, to cover it up, proves that they knew exactly how important it was and how big it was. If they were just “slow” to get to the story, one could believe they didnt know much about Climategate, but the levels they went to cover it up, can only prove they knew all about.
Then, you get someone like this? Either he`s deliberately trying to give credit to WikLks, or he is the most incompetant journalist in the world.
It just about sums up the lack of journalistic ability in most newspapers these days.
So leaks are OK when scientists are behaving badly but not OK when goverments are behaving badly? It is absolutely true that climate science should be more open but we should also know more about how our governments operate. If there is a huge gap between what officials say publicly and privately (if they lie), there is something wrong.
I don’t like double standards. Just read what is inside the documents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak
In my opinion whoever leaked them to Wikileaks is a hero.
What the media is reluctant to investigate is Assange and WikiLeak’s connections to Pirate Bay and the Russian Business Network with whom they share servers. The Pirate Bay was being funded by a very wealthy business heir who was also a financier of extremist racist groups. The RBN are involved in the distribution of child porn, viruses and trojans, identity theft and sale of stolen credit card details.
Suits Assange just fine though. He runs wikileaks more for personal fame than as a source of leaked documents and is drip-feed releasing various bits and pieces every time his face disappears from the papers for more than a few days. He’s just a media wh… er, he likes the exposure, despite claiming that he’s in constant danger of assassination. A narcissist, in other words. He’d be equally at home strutting the world stage as a politician.
[…] In the days and weeks ahead, people who dared to share information with U.S. diplomats will be rounded up. And thousands more who may have been willing to pass on pictures of tortured bodies will keep them in the desk drawer instead.”
We argued the hypocricy of the NYT’s treatment of the two leaks a few threads back and several commenters touched on the consequences of of both leaks. The Globe and Mail article cited above points out the real consequences of the leaks of the diplomatic chatter. Chilling, yes? In contrast, it’s my opinion that the Climategate leak will save lives, as it may have prevented many countries from prancing down the primrose path to economic ruin.
We’ll watch as the consequences of both leaks play out.
What a timely excuse to censor the internet. Maybe that’s why Wikileaks was devised.
Even though he was late to the Climategate emails, Perhaps Assange could do something beneficial to society rather than destructive and use his hacking skills to seek out and publish the many more emails that must still remain. If he does that, he will have more than mitigated the damage he has done to international relations. Perhaps then it will only be the bad guys who are after his head.
Climate Gate is bad and Wiki Leaks good as they respectively play into advancing the agenda of the Progressive Socialist… a) massive wealth redistribution b) imposing their moral absolutism c) weakening the US d) weakening democracy worldwide e) killing Americans.
Assage should not suffer so lightly to get a silenced bullet in the night, I think a Sicilian Necktie is in order. I remember when the CIA had balls.
barbarausa says:
December 1, 2010 at 3:55 am
Perhpas it isn’t clueless so much as calculated?
Never waste a good crisis; how many will read this misinformation and believe that WikiLeaks invented “Climategate”?
A potential reimaging begins.
Completely agree. During a press conference in July 2010 they were asked to defend their release of Climategate emails in a manner that sounded as if they were responsible for the leak from both the reporter and themselves.
Their perceived honestly will be used against an unquestioning public when they decide to release their biased joker card, perhaps during the next election?
Fools and their cables are soon parted.
‘Nuff said.
Given the no-doubt apparent best investigative efforts by HM Constabulary into an alleged crime, can we expect an announcement on progress anytime soon? An update even? Or is it all still subjudicial or can’t comment/won’t comment?
54 weeks since, and counting….
Very hard to compare the two leaks, climate gate and government gate. The climate gate leaks disclosed misbehavior of scientists misusing taxpayer monies to forward their political agenda or for their personal enrichment by falsifying the record keeping and or data collection for climate study. This has to be intentional due to the refusal to allow the distribution of method and model algorithms. The wiki leaks was a disclosure of sensitive documents concerning negotiations and national policy. While one will possibly endanger lives because of purposefully corrupting the data and results of publicly funded scientific study the other will endanger lives directly by disclosing intelligence gatherers and sources of intelligence. Perhaps the founder of Wiki-leaks should understand the possibilities that while the US was targeted the results will concern governments world wide. If I were Mr. Assange I would definitely be wearing body armor even in my sleep. Sooner or later someone will be very interested in shutting down his operation on a permanent basis. I hope his insurance is paid up and beneficiary named.
Bill Derryberry
You can take some stuff in the Telegraph seriously. Seems to me this reporter just plays fast and loose:
…posted on Wikileaks after being accessed by a hacker.
It’s pretty well established that the email package wasn’t a hack, but a leak. As much by the lack of personal messages as the subject itself.
Hackers hack, they dont sort and collate.
Later he does call the incident a leak. All well, what difference to the yokels reading it?
Someone should tell Norfolk police. They’ve wasted a year and a lot of taxpayers money looking for the hackers!
I feel sorry for the average UK citizen, who has lost the right to vote on their sovereignty, and who has to support freeloaders like this.
Long time reader says:
December 1, 2010 at 4:27 am
So leaks are OK when scientists are behaving badly but not OK when goverments are behaving badly? It is absolutely true that climate science should be more open but we should also know more about how our governments operate. If there is a huge gap between what officials say publicly and privately (if they lie), there is something wrong.
I don’t like double standards. Just read what is inside the documents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak
In my opinion whoever leaked them to Wikileaks is a hero.
This is naive as hell. Those with any kind of intellect, do know how governments operate, and illustrates perfectly why Assange must be stopped. The diplomat is exactly right; intelligence agencies around the world have just been give a huge gift – corroboration and the filling in of the blanks of a thousand suppositions. Yes, absolutely, people will die, families will be threatened, and many will live in fear for their lives. In and of itself, any one cable may be innocuous, but the collective value is immeasurable to those who strategize. Useful(less) idiots continue to believe that we can all get along and will destroy their own beliefs in their ignorance.
How I’d love to see wikileaks post documents from international climate talks among governments and NGOs…