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The Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident refers to a November 2009 incident involving the hacking and leaking of e-mails and documents on climate change research from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia.. Note that some sources appear to have confused CRU with the Hadley Centre, which was not involved .

Leaking

In November 2009, unidentified persons accessed private files located on the CRU's servers, posting the emails they found online. The incident is being investigated by police and involved the leaking of more than 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 other documents, consisting of 160 MB of data in total, though its authenticity could not be confirmed. The material included discussions of scientific data and how to combat the arguments of climate change sceptics, unflattering comments about individual sceptics, queries from journalists and drafts of scientific papers.

The theft was discovered after hackers attempted to break into the server of the RealClimate website on 17 November and upload the stolen files. The attempt was thwarted and the University of East Anglia was notified, but on 19 November the files were uploaded to a Russian server before being copied to numerous locations across the Internet. They were accompanied by an anonymous statement defending the leaks, saying that climate science was "too important to be kept under wraps" and describing the release as "a random selection of correspondence, code and documents" that would "give some insight into the science and the people behind it." The stolen material was first publicised on 19 November on The Air Vent, a climate-sceptic website.

Reactions

Climate change sceptics asserted that the e-mails showed scientists had colluded to overstate evidence for man-made global warming. Myron Ebell, the Director of Global Warming and International Environmental Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said that the e-mails showed that some climate scientists "are more dedicated to promoting the alarmist political agenda than in scientific research. Some of the e-mails that I have read are blatant displays of personal pettiness, unethical conniving, and twisting the science to support their political position." Patrick J. Michaels of the Cato Institute called the e-mails "not a smoking gun; this is a mushroom cloud" and climate-sceptic blogger Stephen McIntyre described their contents as "quite breathtaking."

According to the University of East Anglia, the leaked documents and e-mails had been selected deliberately to undermine the strong consensus that human activity is affecting the world's climate in ways that are potentially dangerous. "The selective publication of some stolen e-mails and other papers taken out of context is mischievous and cannot be considered a genuine attempt to engage with this issue in a responsible way".

The CRU's researchers said in a statement that the e-mails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas. Phil Jones, Director of the Climatic Research Unit, called the charges that the emails involve any "untoward" activity "ludicrous." Michael Mann, director of Pennsylvania State University's Earth System Science Center, told the Washington Post that sceptics were "taking these words totally out of context to make something trivial appear nefarious". Kevin E. Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research said that he was "appalled" at the release of the e-mails but thought that it might backfire against climate sceptics, as the messages would show "the integrity of scientists."

RealClimate felt that what was not contained in the e-mails was more interesting: "There is no evidence of any worldwide conspiracy, no mention of George Soros nefariously funding climate research, no grand plan to 'get rid of the MWP' , no admission that global warming is a hoax, no evidence of the falsifying of data, and no 'marching orders' from our socialist/communist/vegetarian overlords."

See also

• Hockey stick controversy
• Global warming controversy

References

1. ^ "Hackers target leading climate research unit". BBC News. 20 November 2009.
2. Webster, Ben (21 November 2009). "Sceptics publish climate e-mails 'stolen from East Anglia University'". The Times.
3. ^ McMillan, Robert (20 November 2009). "Global warming research exposed after hack". Computerworld.
4. ^ Stringer, David (21 November 2009). "Hackers leak e-mails, stoke climate debate". The Associated Press.
5. ^ Eilperin, Juliet (21 November 2009). "Hackers steal electronic data from top climate research center". The Washington Post.
6. ^ Hickman, Leo; Randerson, James (20 November 2009). "Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists". The Guardian.
7. ^ Revkin, Andrew C. (20 November 2009). "Hacked E-Mail Is New Fodder for Climate Dispute". The New York Times.
8. "East Anglia University Statement on Hacking of Climate Research Unit Emails". UEA CRU. 21 November 2009.

• Climate change assessment and attribution
• Environmental controversies