It happened to climate researchers in 2009 and again in 2011. Personal emails were culled through and taken out of context before they were posted online.

Stolen? Released without authorization is more correct. The research being done by these people was paid for with public funds. As a consequence the e-mails were never to be considered Private as they would be subject to the FOIA in Great Britain. The e-mails provide background information on how the conclusions provided to governmental decision makers were made and manipulated. This is BASIC research into how decisions were made which changed public policy. The public has a right to investigate and know what is going on behind the scenes when we are presented with a problem and the answer and they take the form 2+2 = 7.

This contrasts with an organization receiving private funds. The tax exempt status of the Heartland Institute is being used as justification for the theft of the documents. This has no traction. The documents required to be made public according to the tax laws are available. Fraud was committed and Identity theft was committed to obtain these documents. Furthermore one of the documents was faked to provide a false impression as to the activities of the Institute.