[IP] More on "biohackers" being a very real threat
Begin forwarded message:
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
Date: July 27, 2004 12:49:52 AM EDT
To: politech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Politech] More on "biohackers" being a very real threat
Forwarded with permission... Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/2004/07/13/biohacking/
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Politech] Will synthetic biology spawn biohackers?
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 19:42:33 -0700
From: fbj lists <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
References: <40F370AC.1070509@xxxxxxxx>
Declan,
You may remember me from last year, we corresponded a bit. I help run
the
website www.universaltransparency.org and have a degree in Molecular
Biology. This article is exactly the reason I started the website, my
background made me very concerned about technological innovation,
especially
in the biological sciences. There would seem to be only two ways to
prevent
the type of catastrophe that this article mentions - stop technology (a
la
Bill Joy), or massive transparency to help see this type of problem
before
it gets manufactured.
At any rate, biohackers are a very real threat. Many people may say it
is
not, many computer scientists, business people and others who really
have
few credentials to voice such an opinion. Biological Scientists may be
shy
about confirming this threat as well, as it may panic people and cut
funding. Of course mentioning it also gives some people the idea to do
it in
the first place. Even I have been very quiet on the topic as it gives me
nightmares and it also gives nightmares to my friends.
I was at a biotech conference in 1997 when a scientist mentioned that
they
knew of a lab that just as a experiment, made a bacteria resistant to
every
known antibiotic. This took a few scientists a week to do in between
other
experiments. They quit quickly after they realized how scary it was.
That
was 7 years ago! The main reason this kind of thing has not happened
yet, in
my opinion, is most bioscientists are highly educated "good" people with
many oversights. Sociopaths are usually identified before they get a
PhD.
Unfortunately, automated instrumentation is being exported to many other
countries and being used by less educated people. In the near future,
automated instruments may be in the hands of less educated or more
desperate
people.
I still have the site up, but have not been doing much with it for
health
reasons (carpal issues), as well as that mamy people think my ideas are
totalitarian. But in the face of biohackers, serious defenses need to be
discussed, and I believe that transparency is the most realistic
solution.
Please contact me if you want to print this.
Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@xxxxxxxx>
To: <politech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 10:18 PM
Subject: [Politech] Will synthetic biology spawn biohackers?
http://www.eet.com/at/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22102744
Experts worry that synthetic biology may spawn biohackers
By Chappell Brown
EE Times
June 29, 2004 (1:00 PM EDT)
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