[agere_contra]

IIRC the only reason Briffa had to disclose the data was that he had submitted to the Royal Society, who I understand strictly require submitters to enter their data to an archive that RS control.

Now the Royal Society have been hopelessly pro-AGW to date, but in this case their rules have allowed the truth to come out.

[Thickman]

The Royal Society requirement is accurate. However, McIntyre had to prod them to get Briffa to supply the data. Then McIntyre had to prod them again. To the credit of the society, they seriously followed-up and forced Briffa’s hand who responded in sophomoric fashion (difficult to extract data).