UPDATE - READ AND RECOMMEND THE ENTIRE SWIFTHACK DIARY HERE.
As has been diaried significantly on Kos, some criminals hacked into emails of climate scientists working at research institutions in the United Kingdom. They created a splash for awhile, and the right-wing noise machine went into high gear, including Beck, Limbaugh and Inhoffe.
But now that the dust is starting to settle, the significant questions about SwiftHack are about the criminal acts themselves, and their connections and support from the broader anti-science community who are orchestrating a worldwide campaign to hinder the Copenhagen climate talks. The illegal access into the computers is being investigated by police.
From The SwiftHack Scandal: What You Need to Know
First of all, this story should never have been called ClimateGate. Given the similarities between this smear job and the Swift Boat attacks on Senator John Kerry, SwiftHack is a far more appropriate name.
Much more below the fold.
Here is the link again to get all hands on deck to Josh Nelson's excellent compendium of information on SwiftHack.
Please use this link and others as we all go out and begin to hold to account those responsible for these criminal acts. I am informed that this site will be continuously updated as more information becomes available.
Here are some selection from "What you need to Know?"
- Hacking into private computer files is illegal. Posting their contents publicly is highly unethical. The entire process is an intentional effort to intimidate scientists.
I’m not up-to-date on British law, but the hack was at bare minimum a violation of the Computer Misuse Act of 1990. I’m sure there are newer laws on the books, but suffice it to say, hacking a University computer for private emails and data is illegal and unethical. The University of East Anglia certainly considers it illegal, and a criminal investigation is underway.
Perhaps more importantly, this is an intentional attempt to interfere with the efforts of scientists doing important work. Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, writing at Dot Earth, explains:
this is a criminal act of vandalism and of harassment of a group of scientists that are only going about their business doing science. It represents a whole new escalation in the war on climate scientists who are only trying to get at the truth. Think — this was a very concerted and sophisticated hacker attack.
...
I don’t think Jones’ emails had any personally compromising data in them, but that was just luck; this illegal act of cyber-terrorism against a climate scientist (and I don’t think that’s too strong a word) is ominous and frightening. What next? Deliberate monkeying with data on servers? Insertion of bugs into climate models? Or at the next level, since the forces of darkness have moved to illegal operations, will we all have to get bodyguards to do climate science?
AND
- This story is being pushed by the exact same crazies who have been behind many other conspiracy theories and blatantly false smear campaigns.
Quickly moving through the right-wing propaganda network, this story immediately popped up in all of the familiar spots: industry-funded conservative think tanks, conservative and global warming denier blogs, talk radio blowhards, the Drudge Report and Glenn Beck / Fox News. When all of these folks latch onto a story with such force, it is a good indication that the story is false (see: the Van Jones smearing and the $1761 clean energy bill lie).
Brad Johnson at The Wonk Room has a good early roundup of denier reactions.
Marc Morano, who has been leading the charge, was the originator of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear campaign against John Kerry. His site, Climate Depot, has been the hub of activity around the hacked emails.
This excellent post at ClimateDenial.org explains:
The coordinator of climatedepot.com is Marc Morano, a libertarian right self publicist and former aid to the outspoken denier Senator Inhofe, who has been seeking to become a kingpin in the climate denial industry. Marc Morano is not new to this kind of dirty fighting. According to the investigative site Source Watch, Morano, whilst working as a journalist for the right wing Cybercast News Service, was the first source in May 2004 of the smear campaign against John Kerry that later became known the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Although different in context and content, there are marked similarities between the Swift Boat campaign and the hacking of the UEA e-mails. Both were sophisticated strategies to undermine trust. Both identified trust and integrity as a major strength of the opponent and then played carefully chosen story lines to undermine them. At the very least the UEA e-mail campaign is an application of dirty political tactics to climate change campaigning.
Here are some of the other crazed conspiracy theorists who are leading the efforts to push this story:
Rabid conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck is all over this story.
Leader of the Republican party and certifiable nutjob Rush Limbaugh is claiming that this proves global warming is ‘made up.’