Greenpeace faces action over website

The debate over climate change has heated up, with a group of scientists preparing to take their fight over Greenpeace's "underhanded tactics" to a new internet domain name disputes' service.

The Climate Science Coalition, formed this month to challenge dire predictions about the effects of global warming, is taking legal action over Greenpeace's attempts to "mislead and divert" internet users from its website.

The coalition's website, www.climatescience.org.nz, went online on May 2. That same day, Greenpeace registered the same name but with the .co.nz and .Net.nz suffixes, linking people through to the Greenpeace site.

That link was later changed to 'Climate Science' with only a line at the bottom of the page to show that the site was run by Greenpeace.

Owen McShane, convenor of the coalition's establishment committee, said Greenpeace's actions are part of "ongoing attempts to hoodwink New Zealanders about the facts of climate change".

The coalition is to make a complaint under the domain names disputes process, which comes into effect on June 1, saying that by registering a similar name Greenpeace was misleading the public into thinking its site was that of the coalition's.

Mr McShane said: "We thought we were scientists, engineers and economists trying to stimulate scientific debate. You don't expect that sort of underhanded tactics.

"I don't think it was unreasonable for us to take that view because Greenpeace is always presenting itself as heroic, noble and ethical, and we are actually shocked."

Vanessa Atkinson, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace, said there was no law governing names that were not trademarked.

"Climate science is a completely generic term. I don't accept that it's underhanded to get the real validated science out in the public domain."

It was not about shutting out scientific discussion, she said.