UPDATE: 12/21/11 4PM -BBC covers Tallbloke, finally, Richard Black still silent- Norfolk constabulary to share hand-off Climategate investigation, and Greg Laden caves – see below
Dec 14th -The first blogger to break the Climategate2 story has had a visit from the police and has had his computers seized. Tallbloke’s Talkshop first reported on CG2 due to the timing of the release being overnight in the USA. Today he was raided by six UK police (Norfolk Constabulary and Metropolitan police) and several of his computers were seized as evidence. He writes:
After surveying my ancient stack of Sun Sparcstations and PII 400 pc’s, they ended up settling for two laptops and an adsl broadband router. I’m blogging this post via my mobile.
That means his cellphone. In his blog report are all the details. including actions in the US involving WordPress and the US Department of Justice. Jeff Id at The Air Vent also has a report here.
Strange and troubling that they’d seize his computers for comments dropped onto a US service (wordpress.com) from the cloud. There wouldn’t be any record on his PC’s of the event from FOIA’s placing comments, that would be in the wordpress.com server logs.
Either there’s more than meets the eye or they have no idea how the blog system works.
UPDATE: I’ve been in contact with Roger (Tallbloke) and he tells me that he is not a suspect, and that they’ll clone his hard drives and return the computers to him. – Anthony
UPDATE2: 12/15/9AM It seems that the story has gone viral on blogs. Four skeptic blogs are in the top ten of all WordPress blogs today. While I’ve seen 2 at a time on CG1 and CG2, four has never happened before. This is from my wordpress.com dashboard:
From top to bottom, WUWT, The Air Vent, Tallbloke’s Talkshop, Climate Audit.
UPDATE3: Delingpole in the Telegraph thinks its going to escalate
UPDATE4: Horner in The Washington Examiner weighs in
UPDATE5: The Guardian picks up on the story here
UPDATE6: Jo Nova suggests it is a form of intimidation
UPDATE7: Josh weighs in with two cartoons
UPDATE8: Greg Laden on Scienceblogs accuses Tallbloke of being a “criminal” – a claim really over the line and over the top. Clearly this is outside of the Code of Conduct for Scienceblogs.com (contact page here) Of course, after reading the rant of hate this man has for anyone not like him, especially Americans in some states, I suppose it’s just another day for him. Update: I sent off a complaint to the editors of Sb about this, and it appears that Laden has been asked to remove the libelous language, though the post remains as does his hateful attitude in comments.
UPDATE9: Lord Monckton to pursue fraud charges against Climategate scientists: Will present to police the case for ‘numerous specific instances of scientific or economic fraud’
Monckton: ‘I have begun drafting a memorandum for prosecuting authorities…to establish…the existence of numerous specific instances of scientific or economic fraud in relation to the official ‘global warming’ storyline…they will act, for that is what the law requires them to do’
Story at ClimateDepot here
UPDATE10: More than a couple of people have asked me about computer security in the last couple of days, especially after the Tallbloke raid incident.
I’m offering a simple security solution for those that want to protect their files: a USB flash drive with built in hardware security. See it here
UPDATE11: A copy of the search warrant can be seen at Climate Audit
UPDATE 12: The BBC’s Richard Black is silent, probably because he can’t “… find an angle that will allow the BBC to maintain the usual warmists good, sceptics bad holding pattern”.
UPDATE13: Tallbloke apparently is going to take legal action against ScienceBlogs and blogger Greg Laden over his libelous article (now modified to not be libelous) accusing Tallbloke of being involved in criminal activity, and is soliciting barristers. Laden says on his blog in comments:
“I think he’s a criminal for being a climate denialist. Sue me. “
Looks like Greg Laden will get his wish.
UPDATE14: Rep Markey has an “off with their heads” moment, Jeff Id explains how the connections being made are preposterous.
UPDATE15: Tallbloke has decided to take the libel issue with Laden to tort. A letter from his attorney is posted.
UPDATE16: Planetsave makes another libel with the headline: “Criminal Who Manufactured Climategate Caught?” The clueless writer, Zachary Shahan, is about as far away from understanding journalism as anyone I’ve seen. He’s in for a nasty surprise as Tallbloke has added him to the tort list.
UPDATE18: UK cartoonist “Fenbeagle” has done up a Star Wars parody in the vein of The Empire Strikes Back. Mike Mann, Phil Jones, Jawas, and a Wookie are featured.
UPDATE19: Tom Nelson points out that Laden seems to have caved to impending legal action: Warmist Greg Laden: Did I say that tallbloke is a criminal? I meant he’s not a criminal. Details here
UPDATE20: Tallbloke reflects on the solstice and says that questions are starting to be asked in the UK.
UPDATE21: Tallbloke reports that:
In a sudden new development, your correspondent has learned that Norfolk Constabulary have decided that climategate is too big for them to handle. According to an un-named source, they intend to hand over the inquiry to another force.
This follows on the heels of a ‘request for a contact’ at Norfolk Constabulary by Lord Christopher Monckton in connection with his intention to have the police investigate revelations in the ‘climategate’ emails placed in the public domain.
UPDATE22: Donna LeFramboise writes in the Financial Post:
This is all rather chilling. It appears that being the proprietor of a blog in which strangers leave links pointing to material on third-party websites now exposes one to being raided by the police.
UPDATE23: The BBC finally gets around to covering the seizure episode almost a week later, unsurprisingly, the very biased Richard Black isn’t the reporter.
This is probably just part of some backtesting to see if 0bama’s Internet Kill Switch could have shut down Climategate 1 & 2.
Looks like Josh found his backup crayons
Norfolk Police requests your help !
“I dread to say it, but lets just see if any kiddie porn is “found” on your computer.”
That is exactly what plod is hoping for.
Anything will do, perfectly innocent photos of any youngish (or even youngish-appearing) female, a quiet hint to the Daily Mail, and there’s your awkward person dealt with.
As he doesn’t have a reference image, they could plant something too, if they’re keen enough.
An idea:
Let’s say we get 10,000 people all to write an email to the Norfolk police saying they have had contact with FOIA2011, and that he/she has sent them the password to the encrypted file. People all over the world from Alabama to Zanzibar. The password and his IP address is on their hard drive right *now*.
A sort of “I’m Spartacus” moment.
Then get all of them to encrypt their hard-drive with TrueCrypt… imagine the fun… 🙂
Obama’s Justice Department joins Britain’s ‘Climategate’ leaker manhunt
“The leaked records derailed “cap-and-trade” legislation in the U.S. and, internationally, as well as talks for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. The emails and computer code were produced with taxpayer funds and held on taxpayer-owned computers both in the US and the UK, and all were subject to the UK Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and state FOIA laws.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/12/obamas-justice-department-joins-britains-climategate-leaker-manhunt/2006206#ixzz1gcYAgUtP
Reason 387 to talk to a lawyer NOW.
Astounding! On the behest of the USA, our police raid a home, confiscate hardware to clone it and then say he’s not a suspect. There are serious questions to be asked about sovereignty, freedom and rights. If I were Tallbloke I’d get a lawyer asap
If I were Mr. FOIA I would release the encryption key ASAP. There some very powerful folks who are worried about the content of the unreleased emails. They will not arrest FOIA as that would still allow the release of the key. There’s only one way to stop him.
Of course, once the key is released they will no longer have a big reason to pursue him.
First there is TrueCrypt
If that’s not enough, there is always Live-CD or bootable USB-stick containing Ubuntu which leaves no trace on your Harddisk; then use an internet cafe and use Tor.
As always Encrypt your Emails.
It is unwise to interfere with an ongoing police investigation, no matter how noble the motives. Getting this out in the public and enlisting the involvement of fair minded politicians is by far the best route, IMHO.
Yes, Climategate file involvement may be the pretext used to shut down bloggers and/or make future arrests.
Andrew
sorry just going off topic for a mo to bring you this lovely Chart from New Scientist. I like the regularity of the warming.
http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg21228392.300/1-hyperwarming-climate-could-turn-earths-poles-green.html
And how many who have read this, and/or commented on this trust thread “Cloud Computing”? I don’t and I won’t. Why would the police come to you for your computer when the could put pressure on Apple or some other company and get all of your information and records without your knowledge. I was raised by a cynic and a skeptic and have remained true to the mold. I keep my own backup.
As to the comments about the police. I have known and been friends with a few. Most of them are all right as individuals, but they will always default to orders from above and will always protect each other before they defend a citizen. “To Serve and Protect” means to serve the boss and protect each other. Well I’d better get closer to the front door and start listening for the knock…or boot!
There’s an American expression that might be pertinent here.
“…something, something, cold dead hands.”
Sorry…should have read “…commented on this thread trust “Cloud…”
Anyone see the Minority Report?
Another brilliant move by the Warmarxists. This tactical strike will intimidate the skeptics & they will certainly stand-down now…..
As a visitor to this site, I find it very puzzling that so many posters rush to explain why the police can’t do this, or must do that, when they clearly have very little understanding whatsoever about the matters on which they are pontificating.
Only one poster even mentions that Scotland has quite separate (and very different) criminal and civil legal systems* from those in England and Wales – and even he got it wrong, when he claimed that the criminal caution was the same in both jurisdictions! And the IPCC is only for complaints against police forces in England, not UK forces – again, they have no authority or responsibility for Scottish police forces.
Speaking as a retired senior police officer of some 30 years service, there are indeed many puzzling facets of this incident – but none of those involve the actual legalities of the operation or the SOPs (standard operating procedures) that were followed. No, there was no requirement to make a forensic image at the point of seizure (why, when that’s the first thing that will be undertaken on forensic examination?), and no, the chain of evidence isn’t broken accordingly. Have a look here: http://7safe.com/electronic_evidence/ACPO_guidelines_computer_evidence_v4_web.pdf or if the link doesn’t make it to this post, Google for “ACPO Digital Evidence Guidelines”.
There are clearly issues for you guys to debate… but please, the plethora of armchair generals all giving advice (about stuff that clearly they know very little about) is distracting from the real issues… 🙁
* And education, banknotes, company registrations, registers of births/deaths/marriages, etc., etc., etc., …
Paul says (December 15, 2011 at 8:49 am)
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Blimey! Is this what we’ve come to? Anyone dubious of AGW has to TrueCrypt their drives and communicate via Tor? It’s like we’re hiding from Lavrentiy Beria.
What’s the point of these people “saving the planet” if it’s not worth living on?
Okay, it’s up at The Register now:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/15/climategate_police_action/
How nice to see Tallbloke’s info and employer revealed so “the opposition” knows where to apply the pressure to get him sacked, or at least demoted, for being un-trustworthy with secure materials. Or was that already public?
And yes, there was a search warrant.
Might as well stick this story in a new post for further arguing before the comments here get unmanageably long.
Bernie says:
December 15, 2011 at 8:50 am
It is unwise to interfere with an ongoing police investigation, no matter how noble the motives. Getting this out in the public and enlisting the involvement of fair minded politicians is by far the best route, IMHO.
==============
I agree, this isn’t to be taken lightly.
Tallbloke
Others have mentioned it, let me reinforce it. Write everything down including dates and times. Notes taken ‘in the moment’ hold a lot more sway than summarized information later on. No detail is too trivial. Anything they copy or sample, get a duplicate. If anything happens to show up on your drives it will be time stamped and if you’ve been meticulous in your record keeping you can show it was in their possession when it happened.
I’ve gone through legal proceedings involving government and you’d be surprised how childish and duplicitous individuals in government can be. On the other hand, maybe you wouldn’t.
R. de Haan says:
December 15, 2011 at 3:12 am
A Force for Evil
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/12/force-for-evil.html
………….
alisonmrobinson says:
December 15, 2011 at 7:12 am
Current Administration DOJ is the most corrupt in history; with many agendas of which, at times, breathtaking means justify the end as long as it furthers the agenda.
__________________________________________
I am afraid I have to agree with both these statements, but the corruption has been continuous for decades. Thanks to the internet the rot is finally being exposed.
The raid at tallblokes was minor and very low key compared to what others have suffered in the raids on the farm community in the USA for a decade or more…. Stuff that never made it into the news and is only known thanks to the internet and bloggers.
New Documentary by a concerned citizen:
Farmagedon: America’s War Against Small Family Farmers: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2011-09-24/article/38459?headline=Farmageddon-America-s-War-Against-Small-Farmers
“In scary legal news a Wisconsin judge had gone completely loopy declaring that citizens have no right to produce or eat the foods of their own choice….” http://nonais.org/2011/09/
Older raids
2006, Henshaw Incident: http://nonais.org/2006/09/29/henshaw-incident/
2000 “Mad Sheep” Raid ~ Faillace imported dairy sheep. [ Note THESE animals when through health tests and quarantine yet Mexican cattle cross the border with out TB testing or quarantine bringing TB, Blue tongue and other diseases into the USA thanks to the WTO Agreement on Ag. Southwest states have lost their disease free status as a result while the USDA cut testing to 1/10 that done prior to WTO.]
….Larry completed his PhD in animal physiology. Larry was offered a position at the University Of Nottingham School Of Agriculture and they jumped at the chance to live and work overseas. Linda worked at the University as secretary to Professor Lamming, a well-known researcher in the field of Mad Cow disease. Linda learned a great deal about the disease and planned to continue researching it upon their return to America…. http://jmyarlott.com/Articles/Mad%20Sheep/Default.asp
2009 An interview with Linda Faillace, author of Mad Sheep” (Video) : http://farmwars.info/?p=1306
This is a well reasoned explanation (backed by evidence) of why US Farmers have no confidence in the USDA.
The rot is quite pervasive and all ties back to the UN and trade treaties.
Who’s interfering or suggesting interfering? Asserting your rights is not “interfering”.