After an unknown hacker broke into the e-mail server at a prominent climate-research center, stole more than a thousand e-mails about global warming, and posted them online, an online debate over global warming science has broken out.

Global warming skeptics are seizing on portions of the messages as evidence that scientists are colluding and warping data to fit the theory of global warming, but researchers say the e-mails are being taken out of context and just show scientists engaged in frank discussion.

The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia is one of the United Kingdom’s leading climate research centers and has been a strong proponent of the position that global warming is real and has human causes. In an e-mail statement, the center confirmed the hack occurred.

The statement read, “We are aware that information from a server in one area of the university has been made available on public websites. We are extremely concerned that personal information about individuals may have been compromised. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm what proportion of this material is genuine.”

(article and photo source: CNN)