LONDON — The British university whose stolen e-mails caused a climate science controversy in 2009 says those behind the breach have apparently released a second and potentially far larger batch of old messages.
University of East Anglia spokesman Simon Dunford said that while academics didn’t have the chance yet to examine the roughly 5,000 e-mails apparently dumped into the public domain Tuesday, a small sample examined by the university “appears to be genuine.”
The university said in a statement that the e-mails did not appear to be the result of a new breach. Instead, the statement said that the e-mails appeared to have been stolen two years ago and held back until now “to cause maximum disruption” to the imminent U.N. climate talks next week in Durban, South Africa.
If that is confirmed, the timing and nature of the leak would follow the pattern set by the so-called Climategate e-mails, which caught prominent scientists stonewalling critics and discussing ways to keep opponents’ research out of peer-reviewed journals.
The excerpts appeared to show climate scientists talking in conspiratorial tones about ways to promote their agenda and freeze out those they disagree with. The Associated Press
