Re: Fear of Flying -- from HotWired
On Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:03:18 -0700, Bill Frantz wrote:
... former CIA director James Woolsey: responded with some seemingly gratuitous anti-Net rhetoric. Terrorists may use biological weapons like anthrax, he said. "Anthrax is colorless, odorless, and has a 90 percent lethality. One gram has 100 million lethal doses." Then Woolsey delivered the zinger: "The knowledge of how to make anthrax is widely available, including on the Internet."
Gee, biotech has come a long way. Now I can download the Anthrax DNA sequence from the net and insert it in some carrier bacteria and start making Anthrax bacteria. Neat!
Now the bad news: the DNA replicator only works under Windows 95 and comes with buggy drivers!
Or did he mean I can chemically synthesize Anthrax toxin? Or did he mean I can get information on culturing bacteria on the net, but must obtain a sample of the bacteria from other sources? <sarcasm> I guess we need to ban all those "science" pages; after all, why would any non-terrorist want to learn about bacteria? </sarcasm> BTW - My dictionary says that Anthrax is primarily an animal disease which only occasionally infects humans. It sounds like a poor choice for bio-war terror.
Unfortunately, it can be very deadly. The idea here is that it rarely infects humans - in the normal course of events. If a determined biowarrior is trying to infect people, all bets are off. # Chris Adams <adamsc@io-online.com> | http://www.io-online.com/adamsc/adamsc.htp # cadams@acucobol.com | V.M. (619)515-4894 "I have never been able to figure out why anyone would want to play games on a computer in any case when the whole system is a game. Word processing, spreadsheets, telecoms -- it's all a game. And they pay you to play it." -- Duncan Frissell
Gee, biotech has come a long way. Now I can download the Anthrax DNA sequence from the net and insert it in some carrier bacteria and start making Anthrax bacteria. Neat! Now the bad news: the DNA replicator only works under Windows 95 and comes with buggy drivers!
Buggy drivers? But isn't that the point in this case? :)
Unfortunately, it can be very deadly. The idea here is that it rarely infect s humans - in the normal course of events. If a determined biowarrior is tryin g to infect people, all bets are off.
The Frank Herbert (of _Dune_ fame) book _White Plague_ comes to mind. Basically a molecluar biologist's wife and kids are killed by an IRA bomb while visiting Dublin. He snaps and creates a plague which kills women (men are carriers) as revenge. All without using that nasty Internet (in fact, the book was written back before even ARPAnet). --- Fletch __`'/| fletch@ain.bls.com "Lisa, in this house we obey the \ o.O' ______ 404 713-0414(w) Laws of Thermodynamics!" H. Simpson =(___)= -| Ack. | 404 315-7264(h) PGP Print: 8D8736A8FC59B2E6 8E675B341E378E43 U ------
Two teens reported being propositioned, outside the neighborhood skating rink, to participate in the making of some kiddie porn. They called police who made some arrests (I think). The city council is considering legislation to outlaw skating rinks.
On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, Adamsc wrote:
On Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:03:18 -0700, Bill Frantz wrote:
... former CIA director James Woolsey: responded with some seemingly gratuitous anti-Net rhetoric. Terrorists may use biological weapons like anthrax, he said. "Anthrax is colorless, odorless, and has a 90 percent lethality. One gram has 100 million lethal doses." Then Woolsey delivered the zinger: "The knowledge of how to make anthrax is widely available, including on the Internet."
Gee, biotech has come a long way. Now I can download the Anthrax DNA sequence from the net and insert it in some carrier bacteria and start making Anthrax bacteria. Neat!
Culturing and growing anthrax is painfully simple. No DNA required.
BTW - My dictionary says that Anthrax is primarily an animal disease which only occasionally infects humans. It sounds like a poor choice for bio-war terror.
Incorrect. It is highly problematic and very nasty when it is properly delivered. The hardest thing about anthrax is to get an areosol fine enough to present an inhalation risk. (This is why it does not generally cause problems in humans- it's rare for it to get this fine).
Unfortunately, it can be very deadly. The idea here is that it rarely infects humans - in the normal course of events. If a determined biowarrior is trying to infect people, all bets are off.
Exactly.
# Chris Adams <adamsc@io-online.com> | http://www.io-online.com/adamsc/adamsc.htp # cadams@acucobol.com | V.M. (619)515-4894
-- I hate lightning - finger for public key - Vote Monarchist unicorn@schloss.li
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