Climategate Hacker Strikes Again
The person or persons behind the so-called "Climategate" email hack two years ago are at it again: A second trove of roughly 5,000 emails to and from climate researchers at Norwich, England's East Anglia University has popped up on the internet.
The new release appears to consist of previously withheld emails culled from the initial hack back in 2009, rather than newly obtained files. They are available in a searchable format here.
Whoever released the latest batch attached a statement highlighting some quotes and decrying the amount governments around the world are being forced to invest in carbon-reducing technologies. Among the selected exchanges are researchers talking about massaging data, ridiculing political enemies, and suggesting that they delete their emails (too late!).
What do they mean? If they're anything like the last batch, not much. The previous round of Hackgate emails—so-named by climate denialists who found their content scandalous—proved little more than that scientists can be dicks and speak unkindly about their political foes. Some of them seemed to suggest that some scientists searched for data that supported their views and tried to hide data that challenged them, but a series of inquiries by the National Science Foundation, EPA, and other agencies found no serious wrongdoing. Also: The planet is getting warmer as a result of human activity, so there's that.
[Image via Getty.]