Posted on 12/14/2011 5:48:25 PM PST by steveab
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Noblesse Oblige says:
Rest easy: This is mostly for show to demonstrate that the gov takes the leaks seriously. But in reality they do not really want to apprehend the culprit(s) because they would need to charge them with some crime or other. This would likely produce a ‘trial of the century’ in which the defendant would be branded as the worst criminal since (fill in the blank), while being hailed as hero by skeptics aroudn the world. Famous lawyers would rush to be chosen to defend the case. And here is the rub: The media would be forced to cover the case, and this is the last thing the gov wants.
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davidmhoffer says:
Seems like a “show” to me. They are under pressure to investigate, and so their doing something to show their bosses that….they’re doing something.
There’s a couple of possibilities I suppose. They could suspect that Tallbloke is liberator of the CG2 emails, and they want to see if there is any evidence to that effect on his computers. Of course, anyone bright enough to liberate that many emails over that period of time and get them onto multiple blogs from a server in Russia that can’t be traced any further backward to the source, ought to be bright enough to not leave the evidence in their home laptop.
I don’t know what the law is in the UK regarding this, but I for one would have refused to allow access to my computers until I had taken a complete image of all drives and copied them to backup media under the supervision of a legal representative who would then sequester the backup copy for future reference. If the investigation turns up something “incriminating”, I’d then have the backup copy in my lawyer’s vault to refer to and ensure nothing had been changed on my computer after it left my possession.
Three years ago I would have poo poo’d the need to do something like that in regard to an investigation by a 1st world police force. Now, I’m not so certain.
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tallbloke says:
They were polite and promised to return the kit after cloning the disks.
They say I am not a suspect for any crime.
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danj says:
The DOJ, huh? I guess between lamely trying to cover their exposed tails in the “Fast and Furious” debacle and trying to prevent various states from enforcing their state laws to stem illegal immigration (which Holder’s DOJ champions) they have enough time to mess with wordpress and skeptical bloggers to attempt to give comfort to the bruised egos of The Team. I think I’ll throw up…
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pat says:
Tallbloke –
concerned for you, but wonder about the legality of the police action.
14 Dec: ScienceMag: Ralph Hall ( (R-TX) Speaks Out on Climate Change
by Jeffrey Mervis
The chair of the House of Representatives science committee doesn’t think much of the investigations exonerating the scientists involved in the 2009 Climategate e-mail scandal. He also believes that climate scientists are driven by hopes of financial gain in producing reports that provide evidence for global warming…
Ralph Hall in a statement to ScienceInsider expanding on his comments to the NJ: …
Recently released emails highlight many of the same concerns that initially emerged in the 2009 ‘ClimateGate’ emails – a small cadre of scientists coordinating advocacy rather than communicating uncertainty; manipulating journals rather than facilitating peer review; and cherry-picking data rather than following transparency principles, which is a central tenant (sic) of science. While several groups have investigated the actions associated with the ClimateGate emails, these straw-man reviews failed to address the real underlying allegations that continue to undermine the integrity of those involved…
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/12/ralph-hall-speaks-out-on-climate.html
Thanks Ernest. I signed in for a quickie to see your ping. Tis late at my end. I will check it out and bookmark if appropriate. Do have a great upcoming day.
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davidmhoffer says:
Robert E. Phelan says:
December 14, 2011 at 7:24 pm
My guess? Look at the date on the letter, the letterhead, and the date of the “raid” on Tallbloke. This thing is originating here and the Brits were responding to a US request.>>>
You’re right, it says Dec 9th. But it is addressed to the company that owns WordPress, directing them to preserve info regarding three blogs hosted by WordPress. Now, was that because of an investigation initiated in the United States? I sort of doubt it because there’s no crime (theoretical or otherwise) to investigate in the US in the first place. My guess would be that the investigation began in the UK, and that someone there asked the US DOJ to assist in securing information that may be relevant on the WordPress servers. If there are any electronic fingerprints to be had at all, the WordPress servers would be pretty much the first place to look, and my guess is that the DOJ is just doing as asked.
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Robert E. Phelan says:
My guess? Look at the date on the letter, the letterhead, and the date of the “raid” on Tallbloke. This thing is originating here and the Brits were responding to a US request.
I have decided to bookmark a number of the URL’s and save them into a new folder for future analysis. Thanks again E..
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UPDATE: Tallbloke and I both 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
U.S. Department of Justice
Criminal Division
1301 New York Avenue, NW, 6th floor
Washington, DC 20005
PHONE: 202-353-2854
FAX: 202-514-6113
December 9, 2011
VIA ELECTRONIC MAILAutomattic Inc.
60 29th Street #343
San Francisco, CA 94110
Attn: law-enforcement@wordpress.com
Re: Request for Preservation of Records
Dear Automattic Inc.:
Pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 2703(f), this letter is a formal request for the preservation of all stored communications, records, and other evidence in your possession
regarding the following domain name(s) pending further legal process: http://tallbloke.wordpress.com, http://noconsensus.wordpress.com, and http://climateaudit.org (“the Accounts”) from 00:01 GMT Monday 21 November 2011 to 23:59 GMT Wednesday 23 November 2011.I request that you not disclose the existence of this request to the subscriber or any other person, other than as necessary to comply with this request. If compliance with this request might result in a permanent or temporary termination of service to the Accounts, or otherwise alert any user of the Accounts as to your actions to preserve the information described below, please contact me as soon as possible and before taking action.
READ THE LINK ABOVE FOR THE REST
See just above.
Wonder why they didn't go after WUWT....
Maybe laws are more lax in the UK.
Time to hit the rack here,...
This started in the JS DOJ....see my notes just above.
TYPO correction.
JS DOJ..====US DOJ...
Very bad. BTTT. Will bounce tomorrow.
See my post at #31.
Nite!
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