back to article Light the torches! NSA's BFF Senator Feinstein calls for e-book burning

Senator Dianne Feinstein is calling for a pair of controversial instructionals to be banned from the internet. Feinstein (D-CA) did not say exactly how she plans to scrub The Anarchist Cookbook and Inspire magazine from every server, desktop and notebook on the planet, but none the less she wants both titles pulled from …

  1. Graham Marsden
    Facepalm

    Next week...

    ... How to nail jelly to the ceiling!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      1. Eddy Ito

        Re: Next week...

        Funny, last week it was TM 31-210. For those who don't know it's the US Army's Improvised Munitions Handbook.

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
          Windows

          Re: Next week...

          Anarchist's Cookbook causing controvery? Yeah, it's 1995 again! PARTY HARD!

          Seriously, my nostalgia will make me dig out ANCIENT PRINT COPIES OF WiRED. STOP IT, you dumb politicians!

          1. K
            Pirate

            Re: Next week...

            This brings back my teen years, long summer months blue boxing to the US BBS boards, whilst trying unsuccessful to get stoned on dried banana skins..

            Kept me out of real harm, when my peers were steeling cars, getting high and hiring dodgy prostitu.. oh wait that was me with GTA. Oh well - Thank you Jolly Roger for great teenage years ...

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Next week...

              These documents are not, in my view, protected by the First Amendment...

              See #1 here: http://quarterbacks.org/Democrats/

              ... and should be removed from the internet."

              See first comment in this thread re: nails and jelly.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Next week...

                Hey thanks for that, it was fun to read.....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Next week...

      Next thing is to ban education.

      I happen to have an MSc in Chemistry from the days when the "chemical warfare agents" advanced course was only just renamed to toxicology (while retaining most of the same curriculum). We also studied all the wonderful aspects of nucleophilic substitutions and why nitrate sticks so nicely to toluene and why and how do you need to purify the resulting mix to make it stable. Things like hexogen, peroxide (inclusive of explosives), etc were elective. Compared to that the anarchist cookbook and the Al Qaeda manuals are frankly something from Sesame Street. Should be ban it too?

      Add to that a nearly complete second MSc in Molecular Biology and Microbiology. I recall growing viruses on cell cultures (for real - not in a petry dish on a windowsill as described in the BBC mocumentary "SmallPox"), bacteria and modifying the buggers with lovely antibiotic resistance markers. It was also in the days before fluorescent markers so radioactive phosphorus, H3 and C14 was being used by the bucket load in the lab. So plenty of experience in handling that too. Once again, compared to that the Al Qaeda manual are again - stuff out of Sesame Street performed by your fav muppet. Should we ban mol biol and microbiology too?

      And with this intellectual baggage I went to work in computer security (for a while) and telecoms after that. By the thought crime standards of Ms Feinstein and Treasonous May I should just take a gun and blow my brains out. They are too effing dangerous to exist.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Next week...

        I'm a bit into amateur science myself - and this panic creates some problems for us. It's very hard to get hold of tetrahydrofuran - no supplier will sell to a residential address. I had to get it off some dodgy ebay seller. Now I'm concerned because some man up in Scotland has just been sentenced to five years for possessing acetone and hydrogen peroxide, two chemicals which can potentially be used (if you're reckless enough) to manufacture propanone peroxide, a rather nasty explosive. I have a lot of acetone, I use it for 3D printing and casting tin. So now I get to worry because if the police or fire service should have any reason to poke around my home they'll find bottles of scarey chemicals and assume I must be a terrorist.

        I destroyed my tetrahydrofuran by burning yesterday as a precaution. I don't need it any more, I finished that line of experiment.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Next week...meanwhile

          During the holidays I am helping a kid who has GCSE chemistry in June. I've discovered his main problem with analysis is that the school hasn't actually done any practicals. They've "watched videos".

          When I was this kid's age I was cooking up my own fine grain developers with the help of the local pharmacist who was only too happy to help me get the necessary chemicals. I experimented with uranium intensifier, and I got to be quite good at sepia toning (using ferrocyanide). Looking back over my career I can point to work that resulted in millions in export earnings; that early investment in a bit of geeky fun paid big dividends.

          Unfortunately the government is run by someone with a degree in PPE, and the best we can hope for an alternative also has a degree in PPE. The head of UKIP left school at 16. The head of the Lib Dems couldn't even stand up for Forgemasters or against tuition fees. I haven't bothered to look at the Greens.

          In a sane world, one not run by the scientifically clueless, we'd just allow people to register as amateur scientists with a basic background check similar to DBS and let them get on with it. Because it could pay serious economic dividends, whereas the real risks from terrorism are minute.

          1. TexTopCat

            Re: Next week...meanwhile

            "Register as amateur scientists" - why would we allow government to be involved in any of this. If you create something dangerous and cause harm, then arrest and punishment is needed. Otherwise, why should "big brother" know or care what chemicals you have to experiment with. Just as government has no business know who has guns or what kind of guns they have.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Next week...meanwhile @TexTopCat

              There are these things called driving licenses which are operated by most societies, and for a reason. I know I'll get downvoted for this, but I'm glad I don't live in a country which practices the kind of extreme libertarianism you espouse.

              Incidentally, the Second Amendment says nothing at all about recording who has guns, or what they have. It says people have the right to have them, and it wants a well regulated militia. Now to me, a well regulated militia would seem to imply some sort of controls. But then I'm not a Supreme Court judge or a pol bought by the armaments industry. If my neighbor has a Kalashnikov I think I have the right to know, because I'd rather find out before he goes on a shooting spree rather than, as you advocate, afterwards.

              1. Dr Scrum Master
                Headmaster

                Re: Next week...meanwhile @TexTopCat

                Incidentally, the Second Amendment says nothing at all about recording who has guns, or what they have. It says people have the right to have them, and it wants a well regulated militia.

                No, no, no, no, no! That amendment is always being misunderstood. It has nothing at all to do with firearms and everything to do with heraldry. The point about a well-regulated militia is precisely to do with the regulation of a militia as opposed to having individuals with men bearing the arms of their lord and master.

            2. RegGuy1 Silver badge

              Re: Next week...meanwhile

              Whilst I agree 100% with you, what should we do about these?

              I want to know that when I get on a plane the pilot isn't going to take it out on me by slamming into a mountain, just because HE had a bad day.

              When I get on a train I want to know that the guy standing down the corridor from me with that awfully big rucksack (he and I can't sit down as it is too full) hasn't decided that today Allah isn't wanting another visitor to Paradise.

              When I fly off on hols, I want to know there isn't a numptie with a new toy from his mate a Mr Putin, who is itching to test it out.

              I agree with you, but how far should I agree with you?

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            @Arnaut

            Background check to do science? Hell no.

            You can pry my experiments out of my cold, dead hands.

            I prefer the climate of mutual mistrust.

        2. Anonymous Blowhard

          Re: Next week...

          "Now I'm concerned because some man up in Scotland has just been sentenced to five years for possessing acetone and hydrogen peroxide, two chemicals which can potentially be used (if you're reckless enough) to manufacture propanone peroxide"

          They can also be used, in suitable concentrations, for removing nail varnish and bleaching hair; beauticians beware!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Next week...

        Petry dish? Really?

        1. Alan(UK)
          Coat

          Correction

          Petry dish? Realli?

      3. James O'Shea

        Re: Next week...

        I spent most of my time in high school chemistry class working out how to play with explosives without getting blown up and how to play with toxic gases/aerosols without getting poisoned/dissolved/whatevered. It is _trivial_ to make nitrocellulose and not much harder to make nitroglycerin. (Making them in any quantity and without blowing yourself up or having some other wee accident involving nitric or sulphuric acid is a little less trivial.) Every time I hear that some poor boy has been arrested for 'possession of bomb-making materials' I laugh. Right now the following bomb-making materials are in my house or garage: gasoline, kerosine, powdered laundry soap, wax candles, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, liquid soap, chlorine bleach, lye, foam shipping peanuts, lots of paper of various grades, olive oil, coconut oil, ammonia, iodine, potassium permanganate, charcoal, butane, propane, sulphuric acid, assorted nitrates and nitrites, and substantial amounts of copper, magnesium, aluminum, ferric oxide, and the means to make those last four into powders. (Warning: you might want to be careful when powdering the magnesium or the aluminum. Just a thought.) And, oh, large amounts of chlorides, of which sodium chloride is but a minor component. And, of course, lots of insecticides. For those who know not chemistry, this means that I can assemble a wide variety of low, medium, and high explosives, plus a wide range of incendiary devices and several war gases.

        Every single item is perfectly legal. Consult your local high school chem text for info on assembly. And the chem lab should have lots more fun stuff.

        1. askk

          Re: Next week...

          To James O'Shea's comment:

          We all have around the house potentially lethal stuff like kitchen knifes, axes, rat poison, bug sprays, tobacco (nicotine is one of the most poisonous things if in the right form!!!), cricket bats, hammers, nails, razor blades etc. How can any Big Brother control those items?

          Than, those members of the public with particular skills like self-defense, martial arts, weaponry knowledge, driving licence, flying licence, train and tube driving licence and so on, are presumably dangerous at a certain point. How can ANYONE prevent ALL OF THEM do something stupid?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Next week...

      What cookbook are you reading? You have to staple it to the ceiling!

  2. Number6

    If there's one thing guaranteed to spawn more copies of the book, an attempt by a clueless politician is it. People will host copies just because someone wants to ban it.

    You don't fight extremism with censorship, you fight it with education. Or by making a few copies readily available for download and logging the IP address of those who actually do.

    1. Crazy Operations Guy

      Couldn't agree more. My thought on fighting terrorism is to convince people that living in a stable society is a far better option than joining those crazy people with guns that want to destroy that society.

      Right now a lot of people in the middle east are presented with the option of:

      "Support those guys from the other side of the world that blew up your cousin because of his beliefs" or

      "fight with the guys that are from your area and are trying to kill the people that killed your cousin"

      For the price of a single bombing run, we could use that money to turn the decision into:

      "Support the people that gave you a couple farm animals, the equipment to build a farm, and the ability to build a well for some fresh, clean water" OR

      "Fight with the guys that just want to kill everyone who doesn't believe what they do, and you'll probably end up getting killed in the process"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        and and...

        How about adding,

        Support the people that invested into your local economy, creating jobs, etc, helping to remove the desire to kill your cousin and (enter your favorite villain, religion, race, socioeconomic class, etc here...) in the first place...

        I vote for trade not aid, but have an up vote anyway

        1. Crazy Operations Guy

          Re: and and...

          Trade is definitely something to do, you just need to get them to a point where they have something to trade. Look at South Korea, after their war they had nothing and needed aid to rebuild, now they are a massive economical and technological juggernaut and have re-paid all the aid they were given.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "People will host copies just because someone wants to ban it."

      I think have a copy on 3.5" Amiga floppy somewhere. I know the Amiga still works :-)

  3. oldtaku Silver badge

    You're more likely to kill yourself with The Anarchist Cookbook than anyone else.

    Feinstein probably just became responsible for another hundred self-inflicted injuries and deaths now thanks to the Streisand Effect as every moron who hadn't heard about it yet digs up a copy.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Oh aye. "Making C4 on your stove", etc. The number of robot arms I blew up when I was younger...

      1. Kevin 6

        sounds like a guy I knew in highschool in the 90's I remember he blew his bathtub up trying to make something out of the book

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You're more likely to kill yourself with The Anarchist Cookbook than anyone else.

      Seems like we have a plan. Tell potential ISIS supporters, many of whom seem pretty deficient in clue, where to find what they think they want, then await reduction in ISIS membership.

      1. Jonathan Richards 1
        Pirate

        Re: You're more likely to kill yourself with The Anarchist Cookbook than anyone else.

        Especially with the New Edition:

        sample extract:

        When you have collected 50ml of the nitroglycerine, shake the flask vigorously to drive out any dissolved gases.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When politicians call for the burning or banning of books, that's the time we have to start worrying.

    1. Mark 85

      Too late.. we're already surrounded.

    2. P. Lee

      >When politicians call for the burning or banning of books, that's the time we have to start worrying.

      While I generally agree with you. I'm far more worried about the general stifling of ideas and debate than about a how-to manual.

    3. Crazy Operations Guy
      Joke

      Unless that book happens to be something like "Twilight" or "50 Shades of Grey". IN which case we should celebrate.

      1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Unless that book happens to be something like "Twilight" or "50 Shades of Grey".

        Deplorable speech is the speech that most deserves protection. In no small part because it provides us with more to sneer at, and Feeling Superior is the top run in Maslow's hierarchy.

  5. goldcd

    Only time I've ever written to my MP

    was to protest the jailing of somebody who had sold a copy of the (seemingly updated) Jolly Roger Cookbook.

    He wrote me a very lovely letter back defending his position.

    He was wrong.

    I quit his party immediately, and feel sad.

    Partly it was due to myself having happily played with thermite after delving through the JRC, I remember happily keeping in my school blazer pocket (I believe there was 50p involved to cover the cost of the floppy).

    Mainly though, it's my knee-jerk abhorrence to the very concept that access to knowledge could be considered dangerous, and should therefore be forbidden.

    Wouldn't want to speak for everybody, but trying to stop the spread of any knowledge strikes me as counterintuitive to the improvement of the lives of all - and maybe more pertinently, a f'in ridiculous unobtainable goal.

    1. Ole Juul

      Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

      . . . the very concept that access to knowledge could be considered dangerous, and should therefore be forbidden.

      Did you copy that from the Politician's Cookbook?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

        The concept that all knowledge is dangerous is the premise of the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis, which is why it's so funny that so much scientific and political progress has come from Jews.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

          "it's so funny that so much scientific and political progress has come from Jews."

          Politicians such as Dianne Feinstein?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

            "Politicians such as Dianne Feinstein?"

            No, he was more than likely referring to Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.

            1. James O'Shea

              Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

              Lenin wasn't Jewish.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

                "Lenin wasn't Jewish."

                Yes, he was.

                "For the first time ever, ordinary Russians can now see documents that appear to confirm long-standing rumors that Vladimir Lenin had Jewish heritage."

                http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4073133,00.html

                1. WolfFan Silver badge

                  Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

                  A Jew is a child of a Jewish mother. The referenced article states that one of Lenin's grandfathers was Jewish. If it had been a grandmother, then, yes. A grandfather, no. He wasn't Jewish. He wasn't raised as Jew. No circumcision, no Jewish ceremonies of any kind.

                  Furthermore, three-quarters of his genes were from non-Jews. Are Jewish genes so powerful that they override even when out-numbered three to one? Is there some variant on the old Southern 'one drop' policy at work here?

                  Trotsky and Marx were Jews. Lenin had some Jewish ancestors, courtesy of one grandparent. He wasn't Jewish.

                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Gene percentages

                    Well, here in the good 'ol US of A, 25% ``black'' genes overwhelms 75% ``white'' genes. Unfair's unfair.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

          You mean the same people that read "Thou Shalt Not Kill", then somehow interpreted that to mean: "We need to kill all the Muslims, God demands it!" Of course a lot of other nations in the area heard that and thought "Oh no, they're going to kill us, better kill them all before they kill us!" (Or maybe it was the other way around, who knows who really fired the first shot, doesn't matter anyway).

          If your god wanted them dead, they would have done it already; if your god really favors you, they'll prevent you from dying, or at least reward you if you do die. No need to kill others preemptively in the name of 'defense'.

          1. Mark 85

            Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

            if your god really favors you, ...... or at least reward you if you do die.

            Well, there's a religion that says (according to some practitioners) "You died for me.. here's 72 virgins and the keys to heaven.. have fun!". Another leaves out the 72 virgins bit.

            And that just scratches the surface of all the loony tunes in the Middle East and the Bible Belt in America.

        3. Bob Dole (tm)

          Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

          Yes, genesis said knowledge was dangerous, but to whom? I believe the problem was that God did not want Adam and Eve to also eat from the tree of life and therefore become "gods like us", if I remember the quote correctly.

          The takeaway being: the more knowledgable the public, the more uncertain the positions of those in power. Which is probably the single most important lesson of that book.

        4. Fungus Bob

          Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

          "The concept that all knowledge is dangerous is the premise of the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis"

          Nope, not *all* knowledge. Humans were only to avoid eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

        5. <shakes head>

          Re: Only time I've ever written to my MP

          I think you will find it only the know algae of good and evil, so morality not all knowledge, the concept that the universe and world before the was made, and therefore understandable is the foundation of modern science. Believing the rest is up to the rader to decide.

  6. Spaceman Spiff

    When?

    When will these idiots (including Feinstein) learn that banning books just reduces us all! What's next? Fahrenheit 451?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Anarchist's Cookbook is quite interesting. The recipes seem a bit risky to me though. Might be a better idea to give a copy to anyone who wants one, and let them blow their arms off in their mum's kitchen rather than going outside and committing a multi-person atrocity.

    But seriously, banning a book raises it's perceived value and more people will want a copy...just to be cool, if nothing else. Is she trying to sell the bloody thing, or what? Plus with US's foreign policy; the number of people who would be willing to make them available is an unwinnable game of whack-a-mole.

    Also, most of the hardware mentioned is out of her jurisdiction.

    1. Suricou Raven

      I have it. I've never actually used it - I skimmed briefly. I just knew that lots of people were calling for it to be banned, and that attracted my curiosity, so I downloaded it to see what the fuss was about.

      1. Richard 12 Silver badge
        Mushroom

        I read it when I was young and foolish enough to consider making some of the recipes.

        Fortunately, I was never quite foolish enough.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I've got a bunch of 'antisocial' reading material. What the daft bint doesn't seem to realise is that knowing how to do something and the slightest desire to actually do it are two entirely different things. I also have a copy of the Quran, Bible, Egyptian Book of the Dead etc. and have no intention of becoming religious, for example.

        For the record NSA/GCHQ; terrorists do it outside and disapprove of beer; both of which eliminate me from enquiries. Please unsubscribe me from your list. Thank you.

        An interest in how things work is why we're discussing this on the internet and not up in trees flinging faeces at each other (although on some parts of the internet the main difference is a lack of trees. Please note, I most carefully do not speculate upon which part of that spectrum Congress may reside).

        In my yoof, the proximity of a gravel pit made a safe-ish place for blowing things up on a small scale, and I do believe that the occasional reasonably-sized detonation is a worthwhile part of growing up. I wouldn't go near the Anarchist's Cookbook for practical advice, though, as laminating yourself across the kitchen just doesn't appeal.

        1. trapper

          Anarchist's Cookbook

          I used to own a copy - thought it was fascinating until I got to the section describing how to make nitroglycerine at home. That was when I put the book back on my bookshelf and never bothered with it again. "Laminating yourself across the kitchen" is an apt description of the likely outcome, which severely compromised any curiosity I might have felt about the rest of the book. No, Diane F., your concern is misplaced. This book appeals to ignorance and amateurism, not professional hell-raising. Thermite? I learned about that in high-school chemistry and later used it for spot-welding sacrificial anodes to gas pipes. No big deal.

          1. Suricou Raven

            Re: Anarchist's Cookbook

            I remember seeing thermite on Mythbusters - they mixed two secret ingredients from unlabeled bottles, which the presenter mockingly referred to as 'blur' and 'blur' to demonstrate his annoyance at the studio censorship.

            1. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. joed

    so when is witches' turn?

    and by the looks she qualifies

    1. P. Lee
      Coat

      Re: so when is witches' turn?

      Did you dress her up like this?

      1. Teiwaz

        Re: so when is witches' turn?

        Just the nose.

        And what looks like a 'hogwarts' cloak (judging by the collar).

        No hat, though (could use a 'ming the merciless collar' instead).

        1. Stoneshop
          Go

          Re: so when is witches' turn?

          Just weigh her. If she weighs the same as a duck ...

          1. Teiwaz

            Re: so when is witches' turn?

            Cranial region certainly appears to be made of wood.

            1. WolfFan Silver badge

              Re: so when is witches' turn?

              Cranial region certainly appears to be made of wood.

              Appears to be more on the order of granite.

          2. ma1010
            Flame

            Re: so when is witches' turn?

            You beat me to it. As one of her "constituents," I know far more than I want to about her, and I assure you, she weighs the same as a duck. Where is Sir Bedevere when you need him?

  9. JPWhite

    Feelgood Legislation one step away from Fahrenheit 451

    Who wouldn't vote to ban an electronic book which could be used against us?

    Its totally unenforceable, especially since the warning has gone out to download it and put into your favorite online e-storage location.

    I wonder if they feel OK destroying 'electronic books' because destroying real books is too Ray Bradbury like.?

    1. tfewster
      Mushroom

      Re: Feelgood Legislation one step away from Fahrenheit 451

      Actually - I don't think she wanted to ban or censor legit publications, but remove the garbage:

      > "These documents are not, <u>in my view</u>, protected by the First Amendment and [so] should be removed from the internet."

      I suspect that the (dodgy) instructions on explosives making in the Anarchist Cookbook have killed or maimed more wannabee Freedom Fighters than targets. IIRC the rest is hardly any better, e.g "Lockpicking: Buy a set of lockpicks and practice a lot"

      1. The_Idiot

        Re: Feelgood Legislation one step away from Fahrenheit 451

        > "These documents are not, <u>in my view</u>, protected by the First Amendment and [so] should be removed from the internet."

        Ah. So the whole of the Internet, all over the world, is subject to the provisions, freedoms and restrictions of the First Amendment. Material on it should be permitted or banned as permitted or allowed by...

        Sigh. I mean, sigh. With a capital Sigh :-(.

        1. DropBear

          Re: Feelgood Legislation one step away from Fahrenheit 451

          "Ah. So the whole of the Internet, all over the world, is subject to the provisions, freedoms and restrictions of the First Amendment."

          Well, strictly technologically speaking, it's not that far fetched. I mean, you could take a bunch of hardware and use it as one big firewall relative to anything that enters or exits the US networks and... uhhh.... oh, wait... </sarcasm>

      2. Suricou Raven

        Re: Feelgood Legislation one step away from Fahrenheit 451

        Reminds me of the old Comstock laws that prohibited distributing any information relating to contraception - by declaring that the subject was 'obscene' by nature, and thus not protected by the first amendment.

        1. Mnot Paranoid
          Coat

          Re: Feelgood Legislation one step away from Fahrenheit 451

          Booker! You need this!

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Feelgood Legislation one step away from Fahrenheit 451

        With all due respect, Ms. Feldstein, you are an elected representative (my first draft was much harsher). If you believe this rather anodyne "book" isn't protected by the first amendment perhaps you should raise a lawsuit in court or propose legislation to ban it and see what happens.

        Then you can continue extending other anti-constitutional legislation until the public finally revolts and tosses you out on your ear. Until then, quit talking about the constitution as if you own it. Last time I looked you were supposed to defend the US Constitution, not weaken it.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The AC is pretty old

    My Dad was an ATO in the RAOC many moons ago and I can recall him mentioning the Anarchist's Cookbook at least in the late 70s.

    Now we have the internet to spread stuff - good and bad - you'll never get rid of it. Trying to enact a ban on it and it's ike is just plain bloody stupid. Keeping a weather eye on downloads of a few 1000 examples across the world would be a far better idea and is almost certainly the approach our Intel services use.

    Oh, and Dad's advice is to avoid it - you will probably need sponging off the walls if you don't really understand the chemistry and can't fill in the bits that are missing in some of the recipes.

    1. John H Woods Silver badge

      Re: The AC is pretty old

      "Keeping a weather eye on downloads of a few 1000 examples across the world would be a far better idea and is almost certainly the approach our Intel services use." --- gerdesj

      An approach that the senator has just shot to ribbons. Maybe she's the terrorist?

      1. Jaybus

        Re: The AC is pretty old

        Hmmm..sounds like a case for Nick Danger, Third Eye.

  11. skeptical i
    FAIL

    Just now having an opinion?

    More inclined to believe cynical theories about trying to boost sales than that she only recently came across it.

    1. Notas Badoff

      Re: Just now having a go at opinion polls?

      Remember this is a politician...

      "... about trying to boost votes than ..."

      1. skeptical i

        Re: Just now having a go at opinion polls?

        Hi, Notas: Good point, but doesn't her district include San Francisco? Wouldn't a lot of those voters think that censorship is a bad idea? Or has too much of the new high-tech money gone Conservative(TM) now that they've jumped a few tax brackets?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    She always reminded me of Dolores Umbridge... Even before the movies came out...

  13. Mark 85

    Maybe she's representing the wrong people?

    Banning books... this more in line with certain Middle Eastern fanatics than the US (Yeah.. history says we've tried to, just like the Catholic Church did and others) at this point in time. What's next, burning non-believers at the stake under that familiar cry of "think of the children it will save". I would, however, be surprised she suggested banning the Quran because it might incite a jihad. (Yeah, I know but I'm making a point.) The woman is a complete and utter moron about the real world. But then again, her home turf is, after all, Berkeley.

    This is the stuff that a certain German leader (avoiding Godwin's law), certain churches, certain socialist/Marxist countries and others have done.

    This totally goes against everything I was taught. Maybe banning Feinstein would be a better option. I'm beyond disgusted.

    1. DropBear
      Trollface

      Re: Maybe she's representing the wrong people?

      Ahhh, but much like - according to Murphy - washing your car will promptly cause it to rain, except if you washed explicitly it in order to provoke rain, you can't get around Godwin by merely hinting at his law...

    2. Crazy Operations Guy

      avoiding Godwin's law

      Godwin's law is that 'as a conversation thread grows, the probability of a *poster* being compared to Hitler reaches one'.

      </pedant>

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shurely

    This is some sort of a clever advertisement spin? A new version going for sale soon? After all, a senator can't be so stupid as not to have heard of Streisand effect... or can one?

    1. Identity

      Re: Shurely

      Yes

    2. Mnot Paranoid
      Trollface

      Re: Shurely

      Santorum?

  15. frank ly

    If 'they' want to ban it ...

    ... then I want to read/watch it or eat/drink it.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    at the risk of being controversial...

    I don't think it is the Anarchist's Cookbook that most terrorists are reading.

    What are they going to do about that?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apologies from CA

    I'm a Californian.

    Yes, the bat guano crazy Senator is one of ours.

    Oh God this is so embarrassing.

    1. Crazy Operations Guy

      Re: Apologies from CA

      And that's what happens when people vote for candidates based solely on the letter after their name...

  18. Sebastian A

    When having knowledge is made a crime

    Only criminals will have knowledge.

    Wait, what?

  19. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. DropBear
      Facepalm

      ...oh? Then what next? Printing the hash of the "correct" version on T-shirts? Is this PGP all over again...?

    2. Suricou Raven

      Not exactly needed. The Anarchists Cookbook is a living document - as it circulates people add their own recipies, and remove those they consider unreliable. It's always been like that. A lot of the instructions in it are unreliable or ineffectual.

  20. chivo243 Silver badge

    Once on the internet

    and it stays for ever. The joke about removing something from the internet is like taking the pee out of the pool comes to mind.

    1. earl grey
      Trollface

      Re: Once on the internet

      Wait a minute. You peed in the pool?

  21. Chozo
    Facepalm

    In a country where one can buy firearms, ammuntion and low grade explosives such as Pyrodex over the counter of any decent sporting goods store.. she's worried about the the Anarchist Cookbook. What's the senator going to be like when somebody shows her the Terminal Cornucopia website?

    1. IglooDude

      Well, she's been after the firearms and ammunition for quite a while, and has gotten nowhere at all with that.

    2. Rick Brasche

      the scary part is

      when someone tells her that one can make reasonable boomstick materials from stuff found in the back of almost every Mexican (err, "undocumented") groundskeeper's work truck.

      High nitrate fertilizer? stump remover? sulphur additive for pesticide dust? some irrigation pipe?

      And that's before one hits Home Depot for the pool cleaning supplies.

      good thing she's retiring soon. Discovering that her enemies (the Little People) had the capability for decades to do what she feared most, yet DID NOT in spite of all her shrill doomsaying excuses, might be more than her elitist mind can accept.

  22. auburnman

    I thought the link would have been posted by now, but isn't there an XKCD where they try burning ebooks?

    1. Justicesays

      https://xkcd.com/750/

  23. MatsSvensson

    Start with the bible.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      To be fair, lets also throw in the Koran, the Torah, anything Dawkins has written / produced (I'm an atheist and I still find him to be an intolerable prick), and every other piece of religious propaganda out there.

  24. TimeMaster T
    Flame

    This is the sig I use on most sites i post too.

    Beware those who would deny you Knowledge. For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master.

    It is paraphrased from a faction bio of Sid Myer's Alpha Centauri

    "As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."

    I am sad to say I voted for DF when she first ran for office. After her support of extending the Patriot act and other actions that undermine the Constitution in recent years I will now vote for whomever has the best chance of getting that Bitch out of office the next time she is up for election.

  25. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "Feinstein, a big fan of America's surveillance apparatus"

    IIRC she became a little less enthusiastic when it was turned against her committee.

  26. King Jack
    Flame

    It never stops at one book

    Let's imagine that this book was the worst thing a man ever created and really needs to disappear. It gets evaporated and everyone is happy. Because the president set, it's time to ban another few books just to be safe. In a few months the list now includes 100s. This is a slippery slope that will get abused. Look what happened to the Pirate bay in the UK. The list now contains 100s of sites and has achieved nothing.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mah Name is Bubba Rednecker

    Paw got maw to cook some vittles from this Cook book

    Paw says we should try erotic food

    Sadly maw passed away mid cook we fink it was the Moooshine still blowwin up

    still there was some of the vittles left in the pan tasted like dead skunk

    Paw says elli may my sister now has to start cooking for us

    I hope she can cook better than dear late maw

  28. bpfh
    Headmaster

    The Anarchists Cookbook?

    A funny read, but not very practical. Some (most) of the ideas are one step away from fantasy and it cannot seriously be taken as a real improvised weapons manual. I believe that Vice tried to replicate some of their plans, notably for Napalm (a plain old molotov cocktail works better), and a skateboard firebomb (very hard to get right, and could potentially make a nice flash that would singe your arms but nothing more dangerous), and when it starts to get into atomic bombs, well, lol!

    Now, if you really want to be serious about making things that go bang, there are some very dangerous books out there. They are hidden in a secretive place called a "Library" and the initiated call them "high school organic chemistry books", and the older the better. I remember buying 3 of them from my community college in the 1990's for 15p each when they redecorated. Written in the early 60's, with full preparation recepies, procedures, temperatures, and checks for nitroglycerine, TNT, gelignite, RDX...

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  29. Six_Degrees

    Although Feinstein is an idiot, the Anarchist's Cookbook has probably been more of a friend to anti-terrorist efforts than otherwise. It's recipes are notoriously wrong - and dangerous for those following them. It's probably responsible for more missing fingers and hands in the terrorist community than any other source of bad information.

  30. sisk

    I've read the anarchist cookbook. I came away with the distinct impression than anyone trying to use it for more than minor mischief was more likely to blow themselves up than anyone else. Some of the recipes were shockingly and obviously dangerous to anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of chemistry.

  31. Anonymous John

    Offhand, I can think of two novels. One tells how to make a very unstable explosive, and the other mentions three common chemicals that combust violently when mixed. Are they to be banned too?

    1. Six_Degrees

      There probably isn't a politician alive today who isn't trying to shove a foot through the door of outright, blatant censorship. The idea of squelching the opposition through the forces only the state can bring to bear is just too compelling for them to resist.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      then there's Fight Club

      someone might get curious about the movie making a connection between glycerine and nitroglycerine, and do some research.

      Wanna buy some soap? :)

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Feinstein wants to ban the Anarchist's Cookbook...

    Because she probably sold her soul around the book's publishing date, and now she conflates the two events.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ignition

    Another book to be encouraged for circulation to terrorists. I like to think of them trying to experiment with RFNA and UDMH, provided they're doing it in the Middle East and not my back garden.

  34. CJ Hinke

    Diane Feinstein was mayor of the most liberal city in North America...until her decline and fall into national politics. If San Francisco, for example, can be fooled by a politician who doesn't believe in why America is great, well, almost all of us can be fooled.

    Perhaps I shouldn't, but this segues into Barack Obama. The man people voted for was black, was a Constitutional scholar, a man who, at the end of his tenure, might really have deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Hope and change, you might say.

    Unfortunately, this man who sends his daughters to Quaker school became one of the greatest warmongers of our time, a President who believes in torture, a man who thinks any human can be a target for American assassination. A President who doesn't believe in Congressional approval.

    Sorry, but I don't see any way out of this nest of vipers...

  35. phil dude
    Joke

    competence is in short supply....

    See Article.

    P.

  36. Rick Brasche

    heh, if they cared about security they'd PROMOTE these books

    because often, there's some critical bit of information missing that, if one really has no clue about dangerous chemical reactions or nature of explosives, either makes a rather unimpressive flare instead of a BOOM, or makes that BOOM when being manufactured.

    Darwinism in action.

  37. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Mushroom

    15:3:2 Saltpetre, charcoal, sulphur.

    Oh noes, I have information useful to a terrorist.

    Wait... so does the terrorist. And anyone else who can read. Perhaps the good Senator should just outlaw reading? It'd be easier than trying to remove data from the interwebs.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 15:3:2 Saltpetre, charcoal, sulphur.

      Ban music too!

      http://www.prometheus-music.com/eli/filk/blkpowdr.html

      CHORUS:

      A

      Black powder and alcohol,

      D

      When the states and the cities fall,

      G E

      When your back is against the wall;

      A

      Black powder and alcohol.

      A

      Gimme charcoal to the measure two:

      F

      Send the bullet where you want it to.

      D

      Gimme sulphur to the measure three:

      A

      Make the powder gonna keep you free.

      G E

      Gimme saltpetre, measure fifteen:

      A

      Sweetest shooting that you've ever seen! (chorus)

      Gimme water, yeast, and veggie-trash:

      Leave it sitting in the slurry-mash.

      When it's ready, put it in the still:

      If you can't heat it, then the sunlight will.

      Draw the alcohol away, and then

      Put the slurry back, and start again! (chorus)

      Booze'll clean your cuts, or run your car.

      You can make it anywhere you are.

      Black powder in your cartridge shell

      Will send the robbers running clean to Hell.

      You can make them if you just know how.

      So kids, remember what I tell you now! (chorus & repeat

      chorus)

    2. Mark 85

      Re: 15:3:2 Saltpetre, charcoal, sulphur.

      I guess the Foxfire books should be banned. One of them shows how to make a flintlock rifle and gunpowder.

  38. cd

    Easy

    Since the internet is just tubes, we'll just close the valve on that one. Thanks, Senators!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Easy

      you mean to tell me that giving government control over the internet under the disguuse of "net neutrality" was possibly about nothing but info control after all? No Wai!

  39. Dave 32
    Devil

    Won't Someone Think of the Children...

    and ban Diane Feinstein from the internet? Every time her name appears, substitute it with an appropriate phrase, such as "whacked out, senile, crazy senator from Kahli-fornia". ;-)

    Anonymous (of course).

  40. Runty Dog
    Big Brother

    ...you can have my book when you pry it from my cold dead hands...DiFi is a twit, a very dangerous twit. She & her cohorts have been chipping away at freedom for a very long time. She does more long lasting damage to basic freedoms in a year than terrorists do in a lifetime.

  41. Me19713

    I guess that I'll have to forget everything I learned during my summer jobs at Ft Detrick and Edgewood Arsenal too.

    Maybe we should just ban science and engineering too.

  42. W. Anderson

    no such thing as Internet scrub

    The idea by Senator Feinstein, and indeep various other US politicians and most of the US population that documents and data can be fully and permanently "scrubbed" from the Internet has the tell-tale signs of severe ignorance and arrogance by Americans that they can now control every aspect of what transpires on the Internet throughout planet Earth.

    If ever the USA, or any other "western" power were to attempt such a mistaken action, it is likely that China would certainly create a separate Internet infrastructure for their own use, and probably get cooperation and support from Russia, many other Asian and mid-East countries as well from Africa. These entities probably won't care that the Internet as we know it would be permanently fragments, as long as it and their countries were not fully controlled by the "West".

  43. earl grey
    Facepalm

    Stupid Bint

    You've seen the picture. It goes with the definition. This is the American version.

  44. The Vociferous Time Waster
    Mushroom

    I went to buy charcoal

    I went to buy some charcoal on Amazon. At the bottom of the page it said "People who bought this also bought..." and had listings for potassium nitrate and sulphur.

    I have an aquire and keep certificate which means I can buy it ready made and keep up to 15kg. You can make up to 200g for personal and educational use so long as you do not cause any explosion meant to harm or cause damage to property.

    My school science teacher used to make black powder during class and it inspired a life long interest in science. Having said that he was put away for 8 years for raping pre teen boys so he was hardly a role model teacher.

    1. James O'Shea

      Re: I went to buy charcoal

      Some of the more hard-core re-enactors make their own black powder, and their own flintlock, matchlock, and percussion cap muskets, including rifled muskets. And cast their own bullets for 'em, including, of course, Minié balls. it is perfectly legal for them to do this. Every year the true hard core has little meetings, re-doing major American Civil War and American Revolution and even French and Indian War (Seven Years War, on the other side of the Atlantic) battles. Mostly Civil War stuff. They fire off blanks, and do target shooting, and generally have a fine time making things go 'bang!'. Should the good Senator attempt to mess with their fun, she'll find out what a 'well-regulated militia' is.

      1. The Vociferous Time Waster

        Re: I went to buy charcoal

        While that may be the case in the colonies things here under the watchful eye of her Madge are a little stricter

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hours of fun for young inquisitive minds

    Oh the 'plosions we made in our youth.

    Still have all my limbs and eyes.

  46. Disko
    Mushroom

    FIRST YOU HAND IN YOUR GUNS AND BURN YER BIBLES

    Americans and their amendments schmamendments, Mrs. FeinThatcher is not the world police and has no jurisdiction outside the little territory across the pond.

  47. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Was the "Anarchists Cookbook" the CIA's *best* disinformation excercise ever?

    Possibly.

  48. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Dumb and dumber still .......

    Has Uncle Sam and fool supporting allies in the West and the City veered towards and embraced Fascism as the New Deal Way for their collapsed capitalism control with fiat currency future derivative?

    Don't they know anything about such an enigmatic colossal folly?

    Jesus wept. What a shower of plonkers be they.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: Dumb and dumber still ....... and the answer to ploys akin to final solutions

      Oh, and the answer to both of those questions, based upon all available and secret evidence, is yes and no.

      Thus one has every right to, in every and any way possible, resist, degrade and destroy perverted services? Such be one's abiding and even inimical duty?

  49. heyrick Silver badge

    That's still kicking around?

    I read the cookbook as a teenager (it did the rounds at school) and I thought it was pretty dumb then. Are people really dumb enough to try to make nitro glycerine in their kitchens? Actually...don't answer that.

    I can understand the idea, get it out of circulation and then only the real tearists will be making explosives. I just can't help thinking that going after the tearists in the first place might be better. And maybe work out how to stop the TV news breathlessly glorifying every bad thing that happens. Wouldn't that be more productive than trying to get rid of a really ancient document?

  50. MatsSvensson

    A humble suggestion

    Hey, here's another great idea:

    Stupidity causes a lot of problem in the world.

    So why don't we get cracking and fix that?

    ...preferably before next Tuesday, or something.

  51. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Operation Mockingbird v2.0 and Operation Paperclip v2.0 for the Delusional Chosen Few?

    Some folk just can't help themselves and think others can't think for themselves either and need fool guidance and subjective subversive instruction ........ http://rt.com/usa/246377-hitler-bus-ads-philly/

    Politically Correct Words Create, Command and Control Communicating WWWorlds. Crazed Words Spread Madness and Mayhem for Collapsing SCADA Systems and CHAOS ..... Clouds Hosting Advanced Operating Systems.

    Welcome to Black Watch Ventures and Virtual Futures with Dark Web Enterprises exploiting and expanding Hearts and Minds in Leading AIMissions ....... Greater IntelAIgent GamesPlay.

    Not your usual pedestrian sort of GCHQ type fare. Much more erotic and exotic and esoteric ....... and colossally enigmatic.

  52. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Trip back to the 80's indeed

    It really is hard to see any daylight between the current National Security State agenda and that of the USSR in the 1980's, or of today's "capitalist" China. Mass surveillance and book burning are the tools of dictators, not democracies. If much of the US Senate now favors their use, then it seems to me that they've turned their backs on democracy and their oaths of office.

  53. OmgTheyLetMePostInTheUK

    Senator Feinstein makes ass of self again...

    Senator Feinstein, back in 1995, was so ancient, she forgot that somewhere along the way, freedom of speech was put into our constitution.... But I am certain sometime in the past century or two, she has been reminded a time or two.

    Now add another 20 years to her age, and we are all in trouble.'

    I'm ashamed to mention that I was actually born in the formerly great state of California. Fortunately, for me, I no longer live there, and haven't for decades.

  54. Basic

    The Anarchists Cookbook?

    Anyone here not read it already? Hell, it was one of the first things I used a modem for.

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