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Was the ClimateGate Hacker Justified? Join the Debate!

A few days ago a story broke where someone hacked into a global warming research institute and stole all emails from the past 10 years, proving a conspiracy.

In the vast amount of emails stolen, some emails were also found with clear-cut lies, showing how some scientists conspired to deceive in scientific research about data that did not fit their agenda of proving global warming.

I am opening the subject for debate on the debate mailing list. It is a fascinating topic covering several subjects such as ‘does the end justify the means?’, ‘irresponsible disclosure of personal data’, ‘is it justifiable to break the law?’ and ‘civil disobedience and the hackers’ role in keeping society honest’.

Here are some possible questions to get the wheels rolling:

  • Is the action taken by the hacker legal, ethical, and/or moral? Was the action justifiable?
  • Do you believe the harm done as a result is justified for the good (disclosure) that came out of it?
  • Can this be treated as civil disobedience?

For background, check out this story.

Another source

Join the debate mailing list, now! :)

http://whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/debate

Please state your opinions openly, and let’s discuss!

By Gadi Evron, Security Strategist

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Comments

A big yes steve a fox  –  Dec 1, 2009 10:32 AM

They got the truth out. I run a political blog, http://unitedstatesvicepresident.com , and I have nothing but disdain for politicians. They are so corrupt that you could just randomly pick one and you could find laws they broke to send them to prison for 50 years.  Now that truth is out I have no problem with whomever did this. They are fighting for the trust, something politicians hate!

To add to steve a fox's comment Bakshara  –  Feb 4, 2010 7:10 PM

Listen to: Climate-Gate: Hackers Expose Global Warming Fraud http://www.atlanteanconspiracy.com/2009/11/climate-gate-hackers-expose-global.html You’ve got to listen to this guy. He says, "I bow to you!" The two links just below are the links he refers to. Infowars.com: Climate-Gate Pt1 ***EMERGENCY Infowars.com: Climate-Gate Pt2 ***EMERGENCY http://www.infowars.com http://www.prisonplanet.com So, around November 20, when some enterprising individual hacked into the computers of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU), making off with thousands of emails and documents that demonstrate the level of collusion and deception being practiced by its scientists. http://deadlinelive.info/2009/11/23/climate-gate-hackers-expose-conspiracy-to-forge-global-warming-hoax Government Source According to media reports, some of the e-mails included unflattering comments about skeptics, discussions on keeping scientists who have contrary views out of peer-review literature, and destroying certain files to keep data from being revealed under the U.K. Freedom of Information Act. http://blogs.america.gov/climate/2009/12/10/hackers-climategate-and-why-climate-change-is-real Climate change deniers pointed to certain parts of the e-mails (RealClimate has a detailed discussion of them here and here) to suggest that scientists were at best misrepresenting their uncertainty about aspects of climate change and at worst falsifying or withholding data. The resulting brouhaha became known as "Climategate." http://www.earthmagazine.org/earth/article/2da-7d9-c-11 As the bloggers at RealClimate.org (including Mann) note, “trick” here is simply a methodological device or innovation, in this case for merging and presenting data. "Hide the decline" might seem more problematic when taken out of context, but what this actually means is the exclusion of one set of climate records (based on tree rings) that do not show warming after 1960, and are known to be problematic for this reason and not considered reliable. http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/12/not-so-swift-hackers Climate-Gate-scientists-accused-of hiding-data http://climateaudit.org/2010/01/31/climategate-news-and-links Join us at Citizens Against Global Warming Hoax http://www.cagwh.com/

Gore is the biggest hypocrite of all. Bakshara  –  Feb 3, 2010 4:51 PM

New Ice Age, 20 years, Global Warming, 20 years, ????
Go to snopes.com and look up “Tale of Two Houses”
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

I wrote an argumentative essay against “Global Warming.” Here is my opening paragraph.

An Inconvenient Exaggeration of the Truth Taken Totally out of Context would be too long and cumbersome of a title on a documentary about global warming, which could possibly be why Al Gore’s movie wound up with the shorter name of An Inconvenient Truth. Is global warming a serious threat, or just a lot of hype? Scientists have tracked and studied the changes in our climate over the last several thousand years. We have been creating more and more pollution in the last few decades. “Global Cooling” would be all over the news if temperatures were dropping.

Enjoy!

Insights on Politics Bakshara  –  Feb 3, 2010 11:01 PM

GEORGE BURNS
* “Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.”

ROBERT BRYNE
* “Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least.”

CLARENCE DARROW
* “When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I’m beginning to believe it.”

FRANK MCKINNEY HUBBARD
* “We’d all like to vote for the best man, but he’s never a candidate.”

CLARE BOOTH LUCE
* “They say women talk too much. If you have worked in Congress you know that the filibuster was invented by men.”

MAUREEN MURPHY
* “The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces.”

PLATO
* “Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”

JOHN QUINTON
* “Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.”

RONALD REAGAN
* “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”
* “How can a president not be an actor?”
* “Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”
* “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.”
* “The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.”

WILL ROGERS
* “The more you read and observe about this politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other.”
* “I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.”
* “There’s no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”
* “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”
* “The man with the best job in the country is the vice President. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, ‘How’s the President?’”
* “Elections are a good deal like marriages. There’s no accounting for anyone’s taste. Every time we see a bridegroom we wonder why she ever picked him, and it’s the same with public officials.”
* “The best thing about this group of candidates is that only one of them can win.”
* “If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these acceptance speeches there wouldn’t be any inducement to go to heaven.”
* “We have plenty of Confidence in this country, but we are a little short of good men to place our Confidence in.”
* “I love animals and I love politicians and I love to watch both of ‘em play either back home in their native state or after they have been captured and sent to the zoo or to Washington.”

CLARE SARGENT
* “I think it’s about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we’ve been voting for boobs long enough.”

MARK TWAIN
* “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.”
* “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
* “Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
* “We have the best government in the world… that money can buy.”

UNKNOWN
* “George Washington is the only president who didn’t blame the previous administration for his troubles.” 
* “There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen.”
* “Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.”
* “How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America? ”
* “During a campaign the air is full of speeches - and vice versa.”
* “Don’t vote, it only encourages them.”
* “Politics is two parts. The first is ‘Poly’ meaning many and the second ‘Ticks’ which are blood sucking insects.”

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