Climate Change Research Questioned

"Hacked E-Mail Data Prompts Calls for Changes in Climate Research"
Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/science/earth/28hack.html?_r=1&em
Over the past few years, scientists have done extensive research investigating climate change and its connection to global warming. Last week, thousands of emails containing research, data and information regarding the climate change debate were stolen, reported by a British University. The email messages have circulated the Internet and this incident has potentially caused severe damage to the claims and debate. I am sure that the hackers who are responsible for stealing the information can not possibly imagine the damage that they have done to the ever growing issue of climate change. Unfortunately, with the leak of such valuable information, many have begun to question the legitimacy of claims regarding climate change. That kind of information in the hands of educated researchers and scientists can be very valuable and informative. However, the information which the hackers have gained access to through the emails and attachments can be confusing and most of all destructive when not in the right hands. Skeptics about the claims made by the "experts" have began to seriously doubt the connections which have been suggested between climate change and human activity. This kind of information leak is just what skeptics were looking for in order to make counter arguments to what the experts have been saying. There has been extensive discussion of a new international climate treaty, and sources have said that any discussion has been virtually invalidated because of the information leak.
The actions of scientists in their research have been extensively questioned. Their desire to shield raw data has raised questions of concern regarding the truth to their theories. It has also been suggested that scientists are so outraged by the leak because there may be some information which has been presented in one way but may in fact be murkier than the public has seen. Finally, there has been great discussion about the comments of scientists in the emails in reference to skeptics, calling them "garbage" and 'fraud". These comments do not reflect well on the experts which the world has been relying on for their information regarding climate change.
The leak of this information is a very serious issue, and we need to expect that there is going to be a significant halt in the advancement of research in the area of climate change due to this event. A follow up article was published in The New York Times today, December 2nd, stating that the head of the British research institute has stepped down pending the investigation. The leak of this raw data and information has done significant damage to the research community and people can expect that it will take them some time and some investigation to recover from this event.

Reference Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/science/earth/02scientist.html?ref=science