Classical Values :: Fed up scientist becomes hero?

Fed up scientist becomes hero?

Regarding the the incredible story of the leaked Hadley CRU files (a story which M. Simon helped break in the blogosphere, and which prompted Dave to suggest that the leaker deserves Al Gore's Nobel Prize), I'm naturally curious about the whodunnit aspect.

It's beginning to look like it was no hacker but an insider. From "Who leaked the Hadley CRU files and why ":

The anonymous tipster, whom many people initially assumed had "hacked" into the computers at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (repeatedly called the "Hadley CRU," by mistake), might in fact be a CRU insider who released the files for his own reasons.

The author speculates as to what the reasons might be.

Mr. Stephen McIntyre at Climate Audit has made no secret of his repeated attempts to demand, under Britain's Freedom of Information Act, that Phil Jones and his team yield up the data that are the basis of their claims for anthropogenic global warming (AGW) and its effects. Preliminary analysis of the archived e-mails also indicates that Jones knew of McIntyre's efforts and was taking steps to stall and thwart them, in violation of the law. Perhaps, then, someone at CRU decided to take the law into his own hands.

I like that.

There are some things you can't make some scientists do.

Comments

That is so sweet of you. I have to admit that I really loved breaking that story. It made me feel for a while like a reporter from the cutthroat days of journalism.

As can be seen in this free movie "His Girl Friday"

http://www.archive.org/details/his_girl_friday

M. Simon · November 21, 2009 02:40 PM

I sincerely hope that's how it happened, I didn't like the idea of an outsider hacking in.
I was torn on hacking a multi-billion dollar con job.
Sometimes two wrongs make a right but I don't always like it.

Veeshir · November 21, 2009 05:22 PM

Veeshir, you just touched on a problem I generally keep my mouth shut about. One of the big reasons I hated the left was their dishonest tactics, epitomized by the Alinsky strategy. Am I supposed to like on the right something I hated on the left?

Eric Scheie · November 21, 2009 09:29 PM

In the UK suspicion is falling on the USA as a source of this hack.

Who benefits from it? There is no organised sceptic movement in the UK, policy for copenhagen is fixed and the chances of being prosecuted for the hack are significant. In the US there is an organised sceptic movement, your policy for Copenhagen is not fixed and there is little cjhance of being prosecuted for the hack.

In addition Senator Inhofe cliamed that this was the year of the sceptic on Wednesday: after the hack but before it was made public.

And the real smoking gun: the hacker is called FOIA. In the UK we talk of the FIA or a FOI request.

Turboblocke · November 22, 2009 05:16 AM

This should become a trend, outing what academics really think to the voters at large. Discussions over tenure should be particularly enlightening.

Privacy? Who cares? The enablers of tyranny have forfeited the expectation of respect for their own rights.

Brett · November 22, 2009 07:50 AM