* * *

Update 2011-04-23: In case it wasn't clear enough: the highlighted paragraph above was written by global warming 'skeptic' Tom Fuller, who together with Steven Mosher co-authored an entire book about the so-called 'Climategate scandal'. Yep, a prominent climate 'skeptic' wrote the above paragraph.

Joe Romm informs us that Climate Progress will be bringing in a new journalist who will also be doing some investigative reporting, and asks for "suggestions for areas worth exploring". I've sent in my suggestion:

All hail investigative journalism!

Me, I've been trying to answer this question: Who was/were behind the original CRU cyber-attack? And so I'd like to see any reporting on anything that can help to solve this mystery. I'm willing to work together with your journalist-blogger on this (to the extent that I can).

-- frank, Decoding SwiftHack

In related news, it seems that Climate Progress is starting to refer to the initial cyber-attack and the subsequent noise campaign not as "SwiftHack", but as "Hackergate". While this term is catchy, it's unfortunately ambiguous, as it's also been used to refer to the News of the World brouhaha -- which is, like, a totally unrelated incident. I'm definitely sticking with the term "SwiftHack".

Did I say this is a slow news day?

• Deep Climate uncovers yet more scandalous stuff in the Wegmangate scandal (covered before).
• Meanwhile, the Butte County Republican Party harps on the 'price of gasoline' talking point again. [cached] Why in the blazes are some people so obsessed with gasoline?
• The web site of the misinformation group Principia Scientific International is ... still down.

• Via Anna Haynes: A team of reporters and consultants have produced an Investigative Journalism Manual. While it focuses on journalism in Africa, I think the lessons it contains are also invaluable in the context of other countries.
• Moving on to non-investigative 'journalism', Michael Tobis and PZ Myers make hay of the inane newsroom practice of not letting reporters write their own headlines.

Commenter David Smith at Climate Progress asks,

Is there an ongoing investigation of the original [University of East Anglia] hack? What is the status? Who is doing it?

I can't speak for other people, but for me, it's been an extremely long stream of slow news days, though I'm still on the lookout for more clues and information on the attack.

The only remotely nontrivial news I've got these days is that the router at Internet address 82.208.87.170, which was reportedly used by the cyber-attacker(s) to post a blog comment saying "A miracle just happened", recently got a firmware upgrade (to MikroTik RouterOS v5.0rc10), and the web proxy service on the router has been closed down.

For a sort of executive summary of the rest of my findings so far on SwiftHack, you can't do better than to head to the summary blog post, which'll be continually updated.

Michael Tobis opines,

[...] let's consider how we [Americans] got not one but two terms of reckless buffoonery [under President George W. Bush], enough to quite permanently and unmistakably damage America's prospects in the world, and to set the world back a couple of generations as well.

I think it's PR. [...]

[... Al Gore] can actually wax rhetorical without causing a wince. Why was his actual, real, compelling personality buried in the catastrophic 2000 election? Because he was stage managed within an inch of his life!

With all due respect, I think the nonsense already started long before even Gore's failed Presidential bid.

Recall that W. was given the go-ahead to wage a war on Iraq based on reports of "weapons of mass destruction" which weren't. Why were there no serious efforts, within Congress or without, to stop W.'s Iraq war attempt dead in its tracks?

I think the reason ties back to what I've been discussing recently: people no longer value the very idea of "rule of law" anymore.

Really, look -- people are being tortured, companies are talking about cracking into computers of honest activists, and yet we're still talking about how to sell science to the public! Clearly there's something fundamentally wrong with this.

In a much earlier comment in response to a query of mine on why the UK University of East Anglia wasn't sending cease-and-desist letters to people circulating their stolen e-mails, Michael Tobis said,

You simply can't expect UEA to behave like a company or a private nonprofit or a political body. It doesn't defend itself for the same reason a tree doesn't counterattack when you chop it down. It's not designed for that purpose; it lacks the DNA to do it.

Well, as the University of Virginia has shown us, academic trees can counterattack, and with great effect too.

And this is what we, as a world, should do. Counterattack. Defend the rule of law, and vigorously prosecute those who break it.¹ Bring back the rule of law. When people who tell lies and launch black ops are faced with real consequences, then honest people will have a much easier time. This doesn't require a huge PR campaign to explain.

As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.

-- messenger, in Shakespeare, Macbeth

Footnotes

1. And no, I make no exception for the "Anonymous" cyber-vigilante collective. But good luck finding them...

This facepalm moment is brought to you by bankofamericasuck.com:

A group of [US] House Democrats is calling on Republican leaders to investigate a prominent Washington law firm [Hunton and Williams] and three federal technology contractors [HBGary Federal + Berico Technologies + Palantir Technologies = Team Themis], who have been shown in hacked e-mails discussing a "disinformation campaign" against foes of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In a letter to be released Tuesday, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and more than a dozen other lawmakers wrote that the e-mails appear "to reveal a conspiracy to use subversive techniques to target Chamber critics," including "possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech."

What? Why on earth do Democrats get the idea that they need to get the Republican Party's blessing to investigate the firms? Why can't Democrats just say to Attorney General Eric Holder, 'yo, Eric, open a file on these guys already'? An analogous situation will be, say, if the UK police asked the Taliban for permission to investigate the 7/7 bombings.

Is this move by the Democrats just their usual wishy-washy quest for 'compromise' and 'bipartisanship', or am I missing something?

* * *

Meanwhile, here's a joke overheard (in several variants) on the Internets Tubes, apparently spread around by people without any Republican approval whatsoever:

A public union employee, a Tea Party activist and Charles Koch are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle. Koch takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the Tea Partier and says, "watch out for that union guy he wants a piece of your cookie."

An announcement from the cyber-vigilante group Anonymous on 27 Feb, part 1: [cached]

Dear Citizens of the United States of America,

It has come to our attention that the brothers, David and Charles Koch–the billionaire owners of Koch Industries–have long attempted to usurp American Democracy. Their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin are the final straw. Starting today we fight back.

Koch Industries, and oligarchs like them, have most recently started to manipulate the political agenda in Wisconsin. Governor Walker’s union-busting budget plan contains a clause that went nearly un-noticed. This clause would allow the sale of publicly owned utility plants in Wisconsin to private parties (specifically, Koch Industries) at any price, no matter how low, without a public bidding process. [...]

Part 2: [cached]

Greetings from Anonymous and Magnanimous,

Anonymous believes that internet traffic is free speech. The argument behind this idea is far more convincing than the notion that "money is free speech," for only a few will join the ranks of the wealthy while the internet is becoming a universal right — as is the right to join the Anonymous meme. This sentiment is of particular relevance when we consider that the Kochs were behind the recent attack on democracy known as "Citizens United."

Today we, Anonymous, targeted only two pieces of the Koch brothers' vast empire of pawns. It is the opening salvo of what has become a call to arms for the American people, to stand up and fight against the corruption that has been slowly, insidiously invading the Democratic process. [...]

Reportedly [cached] one of Anonymous's attacks was a denial-of-service on the web site of Koch astroturf group Americans for Prosperity. (And who the heck are Magnanimous?)

The announcement continues:

[...] To the media who ignored the men and women at the Wisconsin capitol, including the left wing media, namely CNN and MSNBC: We have noted this discrepancy. You are responsible to the people, not the corporations. Your role is to inform the public. You have failed. Instead, you have chosen to dull their souls with Cirque' Du Freak at the Oscars. It will not go unpunished!

Magnas and Anons do not attack media; however your crass unwillingness to help the protestors have their voices heard is inexcusable. Your money trail is going to receive a reminder on behalf of those with whom we stand: The people! [...] If the shoe were on the other foot, and the right wing media ignored Tea Party complaints, they would find rabid iguanas in their beds. [...]

As I commented over at Climate Progress, [cached] the US has reached a state where all the major political players think that justice, human rights, and logic can all be 'compromised' in the service of supposed 'greater benefits' -- and in such an environment, I won't blame Anonymous for taking the law into their own hands.

Well, whatever happens next, it's going to be epic. (And perhaps some further information on SwiftHack will come out from it. One can hope, no?)

Recently my attention was drawn to a write-up by Deseret Power CEO Kimball Rasmussen titled A Rational Look at Climate Change Concerns and the Implications for U.S. Power Consumers. To give you an idea of how rational it is, I've produced an annotated version of the first page:

(click to enlarge)

I considered continuing with the rest of write-up, but I fear that the result will be too long and boring. Anyway, comments and observations (of the intelligent kind) are welcome.

(By the way, information pertaining to the people behind the CRU cyber-attack will be even more welcome. Unfortunately I'll running short of actionable information at the moment...)

• Jeff Id refused from RealClimate, goes drama queening: I kid you not. [cached] Can you imagine the same situation in the reverse, e.g. an aspiring climate scientist such as Kate X, believing that Anthony Watts is a dishonest man, actually asks to join Watts's blog as an author? Practitioners of "he said she said", take note.
• More stuff you just can't make up: HBGary Federal, the IT security company embroiled in the Team Themis catastrophuck, apparently also develops highly advanced sockpuppetry software.