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.
King of Cool says:
December 20, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Akademik Shokalskiy, a veteran of 50 trips to Antarctica said: “I’ve never seen it like this.”
A veteran of 50 trips to Antarctica is actually Howard Whelan. Akademik Shokalskiy is the ship.
Note that the ABC blames the problems with the Mawson Centenary Expedition on a giant iceberg:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-21/mawson-expedition-stalled/3742012?section=tas
I ‘get it’ just fine. But I think the IPCC and supporters have been pretty much full-out working to create the consensus that their reports and efforts are fully backed by the ‘science’, and that the WG1 assessments are truly representative of the best science available and form the foundation of the summaries for policy makers.
So pleading that they were just commissioned to concoct ‘justifications’ for predetermined policy is definitely feeb. It’s also their last resort, and rarely made explicit.
Seems like Zac Shahan’s page (Planetsave) has been Kim Jong-il-ed
Moderators …just a little nit to pick.
What happened to UPDATE17? Lost in the bit-bucket?
Blade, thanks for the link to the climatecrocks.
On my first reading, one of Halpern’s statements stuck out so I posted a comment:
Let’s see if the comment gets posted and the article, in all its incarnations including the one at the Union of Concerned Scientists is corrected.
Stephen Wilde says:
December 20, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Apologies are emotional constructs personal to each individual and largely worthless.
I deal in corrections, retractions and proper compensation for loss and suffering.
===============================================================
I like your thinking, Mr Wilde!
Mind you, a nice humiliating apology will go a long way exercise future emotional constraint by the miscreant Laden. And make us feel a little warmer. 🙂
I offer tattersall asylum in NH USA (state motto live free or die) P.S. I am Sparticus
REM:
Over the top? With the report of Chris Horner of the Washington Examiner on the DOJ’s hand in this. Big O is as guilty as Big Holder Co in this Orwellian exercise in thought control and suppression of personal liberties. Big O and Holder Co is over the top.
It very obvious what’s going on with the AGW propaganda machine and Joanne Nova covers that with her excellent graphic pictorial of the gravy train machine. Thing is, it’s not only limited to climate scientists and other science organizations, it can be applied to across the board spectrum of government cronyism with various entities. The climate consortium is just another facet of this.
I just made a parity to the past Catholic Inquisition which has been replace by the ‘government inquisition’. Or maybe I’m just getting too old school about this, but I refuse to go gently into the dark night.
[REPLY: I understand perfectly, but please get my initials right. Also, keep in mind that Horner is editorializing. Only the DoJ and Norfolk Plod know who was responding to who’s request and they haven’t said, so far. The guys who called on Tallbloke probably don’t wear jackboots, have no clues about agendas, and really wanted to be somewhere else. -REP]
REP;
I’m pretty sure the usual “whose” is needed there. “who’s” is best reserved for “who is” abbreviated.
[REPLY: You are absolutely right and I stand chastised and humiliated before all. -REP]
The National Post has an article about this topic by Donna Laframboise.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/20/fp-comment-climate-crackdown/
John M Reynolds
[REPLY: You are absolutely right and I stand chastised and humiliated before all. -REP]
It wasn’t that big of a mistake. It’s not like you were using who when you should be using whom.
The link “Criminal Who Manufactured Climategate Caught?” is not working and there is no mention of the article at Planetsave, it appears both Planetsave and Zachary Shahan have gone all bashful.
bob richards said: I offer tattersall asylum in NH USA (state motto live free or die)
I suspect that the DoJ might be trying to find enough evidence to extradite Tallbloke in which case he would be far safer in Russia or China. Sad but true.
“Criminal Who Manufactured Climategate Caught”
Looks like they pulled it
Didn’t know if this item had come to your attention yet or not:
U.S. Justice Department request puts chill on skeptical bloggers
by Donna Laframboise
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/12/20/climate-crackdown/
This post gives a great timeline history of ClimateGate 2, starting with the blogger “FOIA,” who left the zip file on tallbloke and two other skeptic sites, includine Steve McIntyre’s.
New developments are occurring with the local police. See Tallbloke’s most recent page …
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/breaking-news-norfolk-police-to-hand-over-climategate-inquiry/
Also, Roger is asking for someone in country to record the BBC as he will be appearing in an interview. Details are in that blog post.
Shouldn’t that be” … hand over the enquiry to another farce.
Lord Monckton’s actions in contacting the Norfolk Constabulary were shrewd. If they could pursue a hacker, why can’t they investigate the crime documented in the hacked e-mails? Well, here’s one way around FOIA.
http://www.acpo.police.uk/
Can they be “invited” to investigate the real criminals?
ACPO FOI policy:
From TallBloke
UPDATE 5.43pm GMT I’ve got my wires crossed on this it seems. Apparently the Norfolk Constabulary, along with the assistance of the Metropolitan Police and the National Domestic Extremism and Terrorism unit (Golly!) are to revue the evidence so far assembled in order to decide the future direction of the investigation.
So will the terrorist unit shoot me first and ask questions after?
I still haven’t seen anything to refute the possibility that the Tallbloke search
warrant was a result of a requst for cooperation to the Brits (and subsequently
the Norfolk Constabulary) orginating with the U.S. DoJ.
Consider this, the DoJ may be looking into possible grant fraud, wire
fraud, and tax evasion activities on the part of some of the Climategate e-mailers
that involve NOAA, EPA, DoD, DoA, and DoE grants or contracts. There wouldn’t
be any reason to share that level of detail with the British courts or the Constabulary.
DoJ would not fully disclose to “outside” department and agencies (including
British law enforcement entities) if they were looking into such possiblities,
including or especially RICO violations.
Should a U.S. citizen, organization, or state official (such as a state Attorney
General) file a complaint with DoJ for such possible criminal activiies, they
(they complainant or the DoJ) sure wouldn’t broadcast it.
Hopefully this delivers a package of paranoia for the Team’s Christmas.
If they can get the real Climategate files, they may settle for 2nd best.
Bill Parsons says:
December 21, 2011 at 10:14 am
If you go to the ACPO website, at the top, they have a FOIA page that reads:
“The Association of Chief Police Officers came under the Freedom of Information Act on 1 November 2011.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities.
Any person who makes a request to a public authority for information must be informed whether the public authority holds that information and, subject to exemptions, supplied with that information. Individuals already have the right of access to information about themselves under the Data Protection Act 1998.”
http://www.acpo.police.uk/FreedomofInformation/ACPOpublicationsFoI.aspx
So, they came under FOIA in November. They also have an exclusion for material “subject to exemptions”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-16294420
The first BBC article on Climategate 2 by a non environmental activist BBC journalist was published at 20:20 GMT tonight
Concerns over Climategate inquiry
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-16294420
UPDATE 5.43pm GMT I’ve got my wires crossed on this it seems. Apparently the Norfolk Constabulary, along with the assistance of the Metropolitan Police and the National Domestic Extremism and Terrorism unit (Golly!) are to review the evidence so far assembled in order to decide the future direction of the investigation.
UDPDATE 9.04pm GMT The Niiki Fox article on the Beeb website also ahs a short comment from the police at the end http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-16294420
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/breaking-news-norfolk-police-to-hand-over-climategate-inquiry/