Message 951.34
General Discussion - Hydrogen and welding
From: Carlo (CARLOBERTO)
Just in case anybody is wondering what happened to my "Make your own Nuclear Warhead from Smoke Detectors" page, here is the reason I had to take it down:
About six months ago I had a visit from two agents from the FBI. They came to my work and asked the security folks to track me down, and when I answered the page, I was invited to a small office to have a chat with my two new friends.
It seems that my innocent joke page was in violation of the laws against weapons of mass destruction, and certain rules enforced by the nuclear regulatory commission. The FBI Agents questioned me for over an hour to try to determine if I was some sort of maniac who had actually built an atomic bomb by collecting the radioactive bits in thousands of smoke detectors. It took me a long time to convince them that it was just a joke, and I can remember one of the agents thinking very hard at that point, and saying "I fail to see the humor".
I agreed to take the page down, and they agreed not to arrest me and prosecute me for two felonies. After we got that all settled, I asked them how they happened to run across my small web page on a free server. They said that they have people and computers monitoring the internet, and they investigate any mention of making bombs, and especially weapons of mass destruction.
I am probably on the list of people that they now monitor. That means that they probably monitor this forum, and that means that a few more people may have just gotten on that list.
They really do wear black suits, and they both had sunglasses. It offered a bit of comic relief on an otherwise very ordinary day, and no harm was done, but I know of some robot competitors who would have had a hard time convincing these guys that they are not maniacs. If you want to make bombs or nerve gas, I suggest you do it in the privacy of your own basement.
To: ALL (34 of 51)
8/3/2000 7:01 pm