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.
Lucy Skywalker to Richard Courtney:
Aha, that’s a bit of the history of ideas that I’d missed till now. I’d read Richard’s 1999 piece on John Daly’s without ascribing it in my mind to him and I’d crossed swords (a little, in a loving way, of course) with Lucy on Margaret Thatcher’s role at the beginning of the IPCC and John Houghton’s role therein. But the one led to the other – that is worth knowing.
Whether one should say something is a conspiracy or not, I take a totally tactical view: whatever clears up the evil concerned in the shortest time. Notice the word evil. Almost as unfashionable as conspiracy, perhaps more so. Whatever, it’s the word that won’t go away for me in the climate situation, especially as I consider again the effect on the poorest and the uncaring attitude of so many to that (thanks again Willis). Some of what we see in the Climategate emails is also clearly evil, whatever other word one uses. This reminds us of the need to clean our hearts too.
curious says:
December 19, 2011 at 12:17 pm
Lucy – I think the divide is “accountable vs not accountable” and I’m afraid it is real and obvious.
=========
Fascinating comment, I’m still under the weather (pun intended but true) and musing about the accountable holiday and reflecting on this year.
When the warrant was served at midnight on Tallbloke (ridiculous time of day) I wondered if I might be next. Has the world rolled back to a dark ages Witch Hunt?
Yet, the constant personal attacks in the past few years are not equal to what we all care about most. The attacks search for what we all have lost and an honest solution.
I relentless attacks on Jones, Mann, et. al. to be counter-productive.
Meet in the middle and resolve this foolish debate! To be painfully honest, no one really cares at this point. Who has defined the terms for resolution?
Best to You and Yours,
John from CA
PS I’d be happy to supply the pistols should you choose to dual. ; )
I relentless attacks on Jones, Mann, et. al. to be counter-productive.
s/b
I find the relentless attacks on Jones, Mann, et. al. to be counter-productive.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/14/uk-police-seize-computers-of-skeptic-in-england/#comment-833534
Richard S Courtney mentions a newish Canadian government. The U.K also has a newish government.
I think everyone (at the top) knows that political dynamite may explode at any time. So let’s manage the fallout. Pin it on the other guys.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/14/uk-police-seize-computers-of-skeptic-in-england/#comment-834191
Phil. says:
December 19, 2011 at 12:57 pm
=======
You’d make a heck of a bird dog in the desert ; )
“Phil, has the code and data been demoed and released to a group of critics for review that are not hand picked proponents of the AR4 conclusions?”
Richard Drake:
Re: your post at December 19, 2011 at 1:36 pm
I completely agree. Thankyou for hyour saying it.
Richard
“Anyone stop to think this might be a tactic in the strategy to climb-down from seriously over-reaching and suicidal financial/climate policies by government.”
Looks like that crook Zachary Shahan stole my question mark.
Stephen Wilde says:
December 19, 2011 at 12:43 pm
“First ‘win’ for Roger. Email message just in from Zachary Shahan, Director of Planetsave who seems a nice guy but was taken in by the initial defamatory reporting.”
Stephen,
Thanks for the update!
Stephen Wilde, that is good to hear. I’ve been expecting to see a rash of apologies with appropriately placed retractions. I believe the people involved would be foolish in the extreme not to do so. I read the original post on Planetsave and, other than the headline and an unnecessary photo, it was not nearly as irresponsible as what was posted on the Laden site which was subsequently re-tweeted by somebody who should have known better, surely, given the current legal action against Dr. Tim Ball.
Stephen Wilde says:
December 19, 2011 at 12:43 pm
==========================
Kudos to you for taking up Tallbloke’s case.
The article in Planetsave may be pulled, Stephen, and Zachary may “seems to be a nice guy”, but the damage is already done.
Is he going to publish and maintain an equally shocking retraction and apology?
Richards Drake and Courtney, I appreciate nearly all your posts. Thank you.
Anthony, your “Update 16” needs updating I think.
Planetsave article has now gone down the memory hole.
Smokey says:
December 19, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Phil.,
I recommend you click on Climate Audit on the right sidebar.
For what exactly?
John from CA says:
December 19, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Phil. says:
December 19, 2011 at 12:57 pm
=======
You’d make a heck of a bird dog in the desert ; )
Whatever that’s supposed to mean?
“Phil, has the code and data been demoed and released to a group of critics for review that are not hand picked proponents of the AR4 conclusions?”
Nothing to stop them from reviewing it, do they need a special invitation?
William Old: [I]t’s quite possible that, at some stage, some or all of the material on Tallbloke’s drives might be found by a Court to be special procedure material, but it remains a fact that the District Judge did issue the warrant, and ipso facto the actions of the officers undertaking the search and seizure were (in the legal sense, and at the present time) lawful.
My interest in the case I cited and the Bates case RB cited is mostly that taken together they suggest a basis for challenging the warrant. The warrant in the Bates case differs in an important way from the Tallbloke warrant. For the Bates search, the special procedure material was incidental; the search was for child pornography, not for items subject to legal privilege. For the Tallbloke search, the purpose was to seize special procedure material. The warrant was specifically intended to obtain information on Tallbloke’s blogging activity, which I believe is plainly “journalistic material.” Journalistic material is at least special procedure material, and may be excluded material if held in confidence. Yet the warrant declares the material sought does not consist of or contain excluded or special procedure material.
Katabasis says:
December 19, 2011 at 4:38 pm
“Planetsave article has now gone down the memory hole.
Here you go (from the miracle that is the Google Web Cache)…
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FX1bWU6WGMcJ:planetsave.com/2011/12/16/criminal-who-manufactured-climategate-caught/+inurl:http://planetsave.com/+tallbloke&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk
N.B. Not sure if this is the original article or an edited version???
Jerky, no such thing will show up in the USDA hardiness zones. The new map will be GPS based instead of “connect the dots” based (something that the National Weather Service did a couple years ago). It will fine tune the hardiness zones because of the finer detail. Trust me, greenhouse sales are dependent on the accuracy of such designations and will be quite hot under the collar if hardiness labels turn out to be worthless. Most zones will not change at all other than in the finer detail afforded from GPS mapping. Some may recede while others move North. Again, thanks to GPS.
What can be counted on is the fact that the USDA designations sing to the tune of growers, not climate alarmists. Unless the long arm of stupidity has reached even that last bastion of “smart”.
As for me and mine, we will trust the knowing finger, joints, and nose of one very smart grandmother. If you live in NE Oregon, expect a killing frost on or around May 7th. Do not put out starts before then or plant seeds that break to the surface before that date. That wisdom was solid for about 80 years plus. In the past 5 years, anyone thinking that we had warmed and disregarded that sage advice ended up with frost bit dead plants.
Ae we to understand you are compleely clueless about the implications of your comment and why those implications make your remark highly offensive?
I am Spartacus.
I being of reasonable sound mind tho’ not a lawyer nor a scientist, a couple of days of this development rattling around the inside of my head leads me to a conclusion, that may have some merit.
Many years have passed with those in opposition to this AGW being cajoled threatened and even careers crushed, almost all rolled over and played dead for fear of worse.
I think Fenbeagle nailed it for the Empire is striking back, and as in the movie it is the real people, those of integrity that are manning the trenches.
The sidling movements of politicians of many persuations around the world show a shift to a more rational thought without admitting they may have erred.
This open attack on non believers is a new tactic that shows the signs of a cornered animal that fears for their future, they by their previous behaviour have created their own future.
These people are about to find out why politics and religion are separated and why the judiciary is above all of them. Take no prisoners Tallbloke. We need a running commentary on the proceedings so that funds remain adequate.
As I was interviewed by Norfolk police for making a legitimate FOI request my MP has kindly offered to ask the Norfolk police why I was interviewed. I have outlined the facts of Tallbloke’s case and my worry that this is a campaign to silence critics. If you were contacted by Norfolk police please contact your MP and ask him to ask why.
wayne Job says:
December 20, 2011 at 3:12 am
“The sidling movements of politicians of many persuations around the world show a shift to a more rational thought without admitting they may have erred.”
Wayne, I think that is about the best we can expect from politicians, especially if we keep reelecting the same ones.
Adrian Kerton, It might be worth your while contacting Lord Monckton re. his attempt to bring criminal proceedings to bear on the various climate frauds. It may be possible for his lawyers to link your experience with the Norfolk Police to that.
Phil. says:
December 19, 2011 at 6:05 pm:
I told Phil. to check out Climate Audit. Phil. asked:
“For what exactly?”
Phil., let me explain so even you can understand. You asked: “Why didn’t a ‘group of qualified skeptics’ use the data and code and publish their findings?”
You don’t understand the scientific method. The scientific method says that a conjecture or a hypothesis must withstand falsification. But the CO2=CAGW conjecture is repeatedly falsified. Climate Audit’s Steve McIntyre has thoroughly falsified the alarmists’ conjectures and hypotheses. McIntyre is a scientific skeptic – the only honest kind of scientist. There is no obligation for skeptics to publish their own hypothesis; falsifying alarmist conjectures and hypotheses is sufficient, and Steve McIntyre has done so repeatedly.
Furthemrore, it is not the job of skeptics to produce their own code, methodologies and data. It is the job of skeptics to falsify the code and data of others if they can. It is also the responsibility of those proposing a conjecture or a hypothesis to try and falsify it themselves – a job the climate alarmist crowd of pseudo-scientists has routinely shirked.
You really need to get up to speed on transparency and the scientific method, because you’re way behind the curve. Without the scientific method, the “carbon” scare is nothing but alarmist propaganda. The question is, why are you carrying water for the promoters of this fake scare?
Stephen Wilde says: December 19, 2011 at 12:43 pm
from Zachary Shahan, “I think you are genuine in your thought that the science is not settled (while, obviously, I am confident that it is”
Can I suggest that you or Roger ask Mr Zachary if he has read the Climategate 1 & 2 emails and if not why not?
They might shake his faith in the science just a little bit.