[ale] Disappointed in the recent climate research hack

[Greg Freemyer]

Jim,

I hope you're right about the embargo process, but the one only chunk
of source code I saw a reference to was supposedly 1999 code.  So if
the embargo is 10 years it is ridiculous.  6 or 12 months would be
fine.

The few emails I seen quoted were also 10 year old emails, but I am
not saying I think those should be public.  It is the source code to
the models and the data they are using that I think should be handled
under an open license of some sort.

Greg

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 2:03 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a bit of insight into the research data issue (brother-in-law
> works in the field that had the data loss):
>
> The data when first generated/collected is held in an embargo for a
> period of time. This time period varies but is often for 6 months to
> one year. This is done to allow time for the research team who did the
> work to collect it to also do the work to to write it up and present
> it. It's pretty much a "geek cred" thing. It also allows time to do a
> proper analysis to make sure that the data is not flawed in some way
> _before_ it's made public.
>
> During the embargo time, the researches with access to the data are
> not allowed to discuss the initial findings or disperse data copies.
>
> Once the embargo period is over, the data is made fully available
> along with the research findings and all the supporting papers.
>
> Science does not (and probably should not) work on a release early,
> release often process.
>
> So the unauthorized data access was of embargo'ed data. Without having
> the details of the collection methodology, it is not possible to draw
> any valid conclusions from. That's why the researchers spend so long
> to do the writeups. They have to explain why certain data is not valid
> (hard) and other data is valid (very hard) and why their conclusion is
> what it is (extremely hard).
>
> The schmuck who broke in had an agenda. He (most likely "he") has an
> axe to grind and no understanding of the research process or why it is
> done the way it is. So now that incomplete data set will be "outed"
> and be used to "justify" his cause. It will have little impact on the
> actual research but will likely have great influence on the
> scientifically illiterate congress critters.
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:25 PM, Greg Freemyer <greg.freemyer at gmail.com> wrote:
>> All,
>>
>> Not sure everyone knows but a major climate research center was hacked
>> recently and in addition to 1000 emails or so, some of their source
>> code was published!
>>
>> In this age of OPEN research and government funding, why wasn't that
>> code OPEN in the first place?
>>
>> I don't care which side of the Global Warming debate you sit on, we
>> should all feel it is to important to have the modeling code be
>> published under a GPL (or similar license) and available for peer
>> review.
>>
>> If one of you knows of the "best' license for this kind of use I want
>> to contact my senator and congressman and tell them we need
>> legislation that all federally funded climate change research should
>> have both the data and the software models released to the public!
>>
>> I encourage all OSS advocates to do the same.  This seems like an
>> issue the requires a OSS philosophy more that any other I can think
>> of.
>>
>> After all, if the government thinks climate change is worth
>> implementing cap and trade over, then it is important enough to let
>> the public know how the models work.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Greg
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>
>
>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
> Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness
>
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Greg Freemyer
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