h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm not suggesting that this excellent article is breaking the law as it has a disclaimer!
But

The fact that you now have this 'information that may be useful to a terrorist' , Now I'm sure that's against a recent bit of legislation!

Good Work.

Z.

I think this has been addressed, in the "Wow" conversation...

The editors felt that vital bits of information were left out to prevent h2g2 being used as the next launch pad of terrorism

I cannot think of any "prospective" terrorist using h2g2 as a source of knowledge (for the terroristic part of his life, of course).

("Hey, let's build an a-bomb and detonate it in London, but first we have to take a look into the h2g2 knowledge base, just to find out how to do it!")

Come on, I mean, none of us can look into the crooked thoughts of those people, but most of the experts usually say that their behaviour is absolutely logical and sensible within *THEIR* frame of reference. That means if terrorists would regard it as logical and sensible to build and detonate a bomb, they would already have done so.

Conclusion: There must be something else (beyond the, as the Entry says, non-existant technical difficulties) that keeps terrorists from doing it. Maybe they realize that the collateral damage of such an attack is absolutely unpredictable? Or do they think that someone who crosses that red line will never again be kept grounded by his peers?

I don't know.

For me it's a somehow comforting thought that they could do it but don't want to. Much better that the other way 'round, because any lack of knowhow will sooner or later be overpowered by a strong will.

Jeremy

Just to let folks know who didn't see this go through Peer Review..

When I did the research for this one I used open-source material, available on the net... I'm just a normally educated person with an internet connection and a very out-of-date A level in Physics...

The main reason for this article is not to show someone how to make an a-bomb... in fact, during the Peer Review phase quite a few researchers suggested improvements to the design... the real reason for this article is to show that there ARE literally millions of people out there with the knowledge of how to build a bomb. And that if more people were aware of the problem, maybe something would get done about it... Don't complain to H2G2, complain to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Authority).. However, I'd rather you didn't, the poor guys who do the controls are so underfunded and short staffed (as well as being embroiled in international politics, that they are having a tough enough time of it as it is.

I think that people took me a bit seriosly or maybe it was becos I wasn't being clear!

I say a big hooray to h2g2 and the BBC for publishing this because it makes a mockery of the law

eg. if I had a bus/train timetable, a phone book and the chemical constituents of a bomb in my garden shed (most people do!) I cud be prosecuted for having information that may be useful to a terrorist and the existance of bomb making materials in my shed - I could be doing time!

Now where did I put that uranium 234?

Z.

I liked the terrorist who had 'plans for making a dirty bomb'.

I had such plans myself on my whiteboard at the time. There was a big rectangle marked 'explosive', a box surrounding that marked 'radioactive material', and a fuse...

-Martin

sends the anti-terrorist squad round!


Z.

People might like to know that I just put "How to Make your own Atom Bomb" into Google on a UK search and the first link that came up was this very article!!!

Those nice gentle folk at Menwith Hill are now listening to my connection vehemently and I'm expecting a knock at the door any minute n