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Tallbloke’s computer seized, Jeff ID threatened in Climategate retaliation: It’s intimidation

BREAKING: As Jeff ID says, “The Empire Strikes Back”

Industrial wall in Donetsk, Ukraine. Photo: Борис У.

UPDATED: See Washington Examiner story below.

Tallbloke’s computers were confiscated by police today, allegedly in the search for the climategate leaker. But it’s obvious that there won’t be any clues left on Tallbloke’s computer (it would have no record of comments dropped onto wordpress.com, a US service). See Watts Up.

The point of this is not to catch the leaker, it’s to intimidate bloggers.

 Jeff ID writes:   Tallbloke a fellow recipient blog of the climategate emails, and linked on the right, was raided today in what seems to be a coordinated effort by Metropolitan Police, the Norfolk Constabulary and the Computer Crime division and the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division.  His home was raided and computers were taken for ‘examination’.

They don’t really want to catch the leaker, because a whistleblower is protected by UK legislation. The proof that this is aimed at intimidating bloggers rather than catching the climategate leaker is the coordinated and pointless US dept of Justice action through wordpress. To wit:

Both Tallbloke and JeffID received “the following notification from the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division and forwarded by Ryan at WordPress.  ClimateAudit is also mentioned yet I’m not certain that Steve Received notice.  It seems that the larger paid blogs may not have received any notice.  On pdf –WordPress Preservation Request-1

The notification apparently asks them not to make the information public or else... they may terminate their wordpress account.

This has nothing at all to do with finding a hypothetical hacker.

How would anyone feel knowing that agents may turn up at their home, take all their computers, phones, routers and records, and have a copy of all their emails, their tax records, letters to friends, music, photos, information about family and friends, and their passwords?

The inconvenience of living without their computer, software and everything else would cost potentially thousands but worse, for someone who values their privacy, just the knowledge that so much personal information was in the hands of strangers would be unsettling.

Furthermore, there’s the risk that a single malicious person in the government could “leak” the emails, photos, or letters, medical records and spread them on the internet. These are home offices, so everything is on the computer. It would only take one agent — someone thinking it was “only fair” to release all that information. There’s a perverse logic that though the climategate leaker carefully removed personal emails, and was releasing work related information from a work account, it was somehow “just” to release irrelevant personal information from the accounts of volunteers.

If the establishment was really in the mood to send a signal that blogging is a risky business, what’s next — Nixon style tax audits?

Now, more than ever, all the people that value their freedom need to stick together. Whistleblowers and radio personalities need blogger back up, big bloggers need small bloggers, every blogger needs commenter and emailer support, with letters to editors and friends. Every link in the chain helps. The establishment need to know that we will not be intimidated, there are many of us, and the more they push, the more we will tell the world.

 

Spread the information on the net while we still can

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Steve McIntyre’s initial reaction.

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Comments:

Bernd Felsche says:
December 14, 2011 at 5:15 pm

They took away a DSL router? That would only be done by “experts” to frustrate access to the Internet.

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Nick says:

This raid is practice and a fishing exercise I’m guessing.

How many in the raid? 8-10 Your joking?! For a computer geek with, supposedly, sources to some more nerds email’s? Nup, doesn’t work for me. And to trace the traffic to and from a Russian server? You have to get hold of that Russian server. Good luck with that. 🙂

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Jeff Id said

December 14, 2011 at 9:16 pm

Read the letter to wordpress above. WordPress is a totally unconcerned recipient of 100% of the data and the police haven’t received it yet. Just why would they want our computers if ALL of the data they seek is available from wordpress.

You might say there is something missing in the WordPress record, but the only things missing would be email discussions with the evil dr. FOIA. Of course had I been having discussions with them/he/she, I would have requested a few email threads be completed.

Why are they investigating the bloggers on the fraud rather than the fraud itself? – no I don’t use that word very often.

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H/t to Steve, Ian, Dan, Oliver, Pat, Cassandra and others.

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UPDATE #1

Obama’s Justice Department joins Britain’s ‘Climategate’ leaker manhunt

By: Christopher C. Horner | 12/15/11 7:57 AM
OpEd Contributor

I have seen apparent proof that the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Criminal Division, is working with United Kingdom police to pursue the leaker of the 2009 and 2011 “Climategate” emails.

I have learned that last week DOJ sent a search-and-seizure letter to the host of three climate-change “skeptic” blogs. Last night, UK police raided a blogger’s home and removed computers and equipment.

The DOJ attorney sending the preservation letters, as it happens in this small world, a graduate of the University of Virginia (UVA). And UVA is also the subject of litigation a group I am associated with, the American Tradition Institute (ATI), that has filed suit on behalf of Virginia taxpayers seeking Climategate-related emails the school holds.

So far UVA has spent upwards of $1 million fighting Cuccinelli’s request, and school officials continue to fight us in court every step of the way.

Clearly, this is no small matter in the quarters insisting that this taxpayer-financed information never see the light of day. Even the criminal legal apparatus of the U.S. and UK must be invoked against this threat, apparently.

To review: The UK police and the US DOJ, Criminal Division, are pursuing a leaker of public records subject to one or more FOIA, records that were unlawfully withheld under those laws, which leaks indicate apparent civil violations (tortious interference by seeking dismissal of certain “skeptics”), and raising reasonable questions of fraud against taxpayers.
Read the whole story at the Washington Examiner

 

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