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Art or Bio-Terrorism? Justice Department makes big mistake

10zenmonkeys.com — When a New York professor called 911 for his wife's heart attack, they mistook his science equipment for bioterrorism supplies. He was detained for 22 hours, they cordoned off his block, and searched his house in hazmat suits. When they realized there was nothing harmful there, they decided to prosecute him for "mail fraud" for buying the supplies!

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  • UneasyRider, on 10/10/2007, -3/+55All I can say is, *****.
    • Drahkar, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11This is the kind of thing that goes on now. I was reading the article posted on Digg earlier about how we could have gone to Mars 11 times with manned missions if we spent the cost of this war on it (Based off cost estimates from 5 years ago). So instead of growing as a society and pushing ourselves to new and better levels. We spend all our money to destroy the middle east and throw out BS propaganda to the US population on why it is important.
      • TheLoneHoot, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Dude, Martians don't want our democracy either and their ray guns have better range than your standard RPG.
        Besides, even with the Iraq war not happening, we would never have gone there by now anyway... no oil.
        • Drahkar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4While it is true that we wouldn't have put the money into the Space Program (No Matter what Bush Promised while Campaigning) There is still a lot of places the money would have been better spent. Hell, we probably could have finished the research and implemented a new hydrogen fuel system with money like that put into it thus completely removing the stranglehold the middle east holds on us. But no. the Oil Industry has the government in their pocket along with all the Mercs in Iraq now who are making a fortune off this war.
      • Daveecee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I actually just watched the Leeson film about this incident, "Strange Culture." I kind of hate our government a lot more now
  • fisj139, on 10/10/2007, -2/+78I do not like where we are heading as a country
    • CanceledCzech, on 10/10/2007, -1/+29I do not like where we are heading as a species.
      • skanlessflipboy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163
        "In a preview of his next book, Steven Pinker takes on violence. We live in violent times, an era of heightened warfare, genocide and senseless crime. Or so we've come to believe. Pinker charts a history of violence from Biblical times through the present, and says modern society has a little less to feel guilty about."
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2i think i the writers of the declaration of independence where still around we might be getting ready for a new govt
  • wattznext, on 10/10/2007, -15/+42Well if you goddamn liberals had given Bush the full power of warrentless wire tapping, they government could have been listening to this guy's phone calls, and would have known that it was just lab equipment.
    See what your hippie left wing rights protecting ***** has wrought?

    OK yeah, TOTALLY kidding.
    • SpallettaAC1041, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1I was so mad until the end of your comment.
    • ChayD, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Ooooh, you so narrowly missed out on a total roasting, there :) I noticed that you were still dugg down, shows how much of the comments people actually read before jumping to conclusions. There must be some auto-digg-bot plugin for firefox that looks for terms like 'liberals' 'hippie' 'left wing' 'administration doing a great job' 'commie' '*****' and buries them.
  • malakite33, on 10/10/2007, -12/+21Another terrifying article, but I'm confused by the title of the post...art?? I think you mean science.
    • pyrophire, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17Did you even read the article, or just the description and assumed it was about science?
      From the article:
      the charges "concern technicalities" about how Kurtz obtained "$256 worth of harmless bacteria for one of CAE's art projects."
    • MaddieCakes, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8RTFA
  • KevenM, on 10/10/2007, -16/+6Wow. I might care if there was at least ONE source to back up this story. I'm not saying it did or didn't happen, but with all the BS on the Internet, the last thing we need is more unsourced material cluttering (and debasing) the genuine stories.
  • teknikqa, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Check out the webpage they've made for this case.

    http://www.caedefensefund.org/
  • JGailor, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18"A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual's morals are situational, that individual is without morals. If a nation's laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation... Are you really so scared of terrorists that you'd dismantle the structures that made America what it is? If you are, you let the terrorists win. Because that is exactly, specifically, his goal, his only goal: to frighten you into surrendering the rule of law. That's why they call him 'terrorist'. He uses terrifying threats to induce you to degrade your own society."
  • Klak, on 10/10/2007, -1/+29why can't law enforcement just admit that they were wrong or at least over reacting instead of charging innocent people with crimes to save face?
    • Protonz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4They don't need to admit they were wrong. Who is going to force them?
    • themayorpwns, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2because in their eyes, if you are wrong even once, your accountability goes to *****.
  • midbc, on 10/10/2007, -11/+2proud to be an american , usa usa usa , as american as apple pie

    glad im not
    • objectcode, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1dugg down for being a douche bag
      • midbc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0hey now thats non american douche bag to you
  • chetanw, on 10/10/2007, -12/+3Now why on earth would someone set up a high tech biological research lab at their house? If I saw something like that I'd panic too and with a bunch of books in Arabic next to them, I'd jump to the obvious conclusion.
    • TWhid, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7RTFA - he's an artist and professor in Buffalo, NY. The 'high tech' lab was part of his research/art work. There were no 'bunch of books in arabic' there was one postcard from an exhibition that had some arabic writing on it.
      • Pake, on 10/10/2007, -11/+2He should of expected this type of thing to happen. It's a freaking state of the art biological research lab in his own house, not in a separate building. There are a lot of nut jobs in this world and if he turned out to be one, we'd have to see 10 post on Digg saying "Police searched home months before attack and claimed biological lab was not suspicious!!!!!" Then the first reply would of been "Wow, you'd think that fact the guy was housing his own biological lab would of clued them in! Another GWB failure! Way to go failing to keep us safe!" Sure, by now it should have been dropped, but at the time, they have to take steps to be cautious for something of the magnitude, no matter what profession you're in.
        • jgzman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I do not object to their initial action, because the materials he had were certainly non-standard, and may have been suspicious.

          I do object to the reaction to discovering that there was no danger or illegal activity. That kind of thing should not be tolerated.
        • AndrewJC, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4So what you're saying is that we need to start simply assuming that everybody is doing something illegal?
          • Pake, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1No, what I'm saying is that someone with a lab inside their home should at least be looked into. I'm in full agreeance that after the search turned up nothing, it should of been forgotten about. However, the guy had a freaking biological lab inside his house and that's pretty out of the ordinary even for scientist.
          • CATSCEO, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The RIAA did that.
          • Smegzor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1LOL! Start assuming. Thats a good one. Since when have they assumed anything else?
    • elipabst, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The point of his work is to make cutting edge and controversial topics in science accessible to the average person in the form of an art exhibit that a layperson could easily understand and use that knowledge to make informed decisions about said controversial topics. For example, he did an exhibit looking for traces of GMO plants in crops that were supposed to be non-GMO.
  • thcobbs, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9OK, even I'll admit this one.

    That's ***** over the line.
    • codehkr, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Who are YOU , that even YOU admitting is supposed to be very important?
      • thcobbs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3ask around a bit... I've apparently got a name for defending police actions that most on digg consider questionable, especially Tasers.
  • FishHammer, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3as long as they're going after scientists and my secret biological weapons lab will remain untouched, i'm all for this


    actually since the FBI is probably monitoring digg I should mention I'm joking


    please dont sent the swat team to my house
    • ChromaVita, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You blog like a terrorist.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2you ready to bomb the white house?
      just in case that doesnt get swat , terror, posion, water supply, president, police, death.
  • zerhynn, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1www.duggmirror.com
  • ZenMojo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17Mail fraud. Funny how there's no actual evidence of mail fraud but he's being charged with it anyway. Whatever happened to probable cause?
    • jeffiek, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Not sure exactly. Think it got tossed out with the cat's pajamas.
    • bitORlogic, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's on vacation with Habeus Corpus. And by vacation, I mean rotting in a shallow grave.
  • esnmb, on 10/10/2007, -11/+0Who cares about this? It happened in 2004...
    • elipabst, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0It supposedly will be going to trial soon.
  • Unlgued, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2/facepalm
  • davmattucci, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8An excellent example of our tax dollars hard at work for us. I really hate where we're heading...
  • MadScientist420, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2Even though he wasn't making bio weapons, there is no reason why any scientist (professor or otherwise) should have scientific equipment at their house. That's what their labs are for. There is no reason to have it there unless he was fixing a piece of equipment in his spare time. I'm surprised the university didn't accuse him of stealing.
    • louiedog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Why not? I have a friend who works from home. His company supplies the laptop. He doesn't have to commute and the company doesn't need to supply him with much space in the office. What's the problem? As long as it isn't dangerous why is lab equipment any different?
    • codehkr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Hey MadScientist, looks like you have a lab at your house too... or a small garden? 420?

      "Digg:The force is strong with you, please wait a few minutes before commenting again."
      WTF?
    • aubbey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4How is a scientist having lab equipment at home any different than a mechanic fixing cars in his own garage? I suppose musicians shouldn't be able to practice anywhere but in a practice room or concert hall, and artists shouldn't be allowed to draw, sculpt, or spot weld in their own homes.
      • MadScientist420, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2You're an idiot. You're comparing playing an instrument or fixing a car to perfroming biological experiments in an apt building?? Obviously it depends on what this guy was planing on doing but unless he was doing some sort of mickey mouse experiment, it is not safe or ok for people to run experiements in an apt building.
        • elipabst, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Well apparently the US government felt it was safe enough to release large amounts of it over San Francisco as part of a test of airborne dispersal of biological agent. From wikipedia: "On September 26 and 27, 1950, the United States Navy conducted a secret experiment named "Operation Sea-Spray" in which some S. marcescens was released by bursting balloons of it over urban areas of the San Francisco Bay Area in California."
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens
    • MadScientist420, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1No labs at my house. just a bar where I perform mixology experiments.. You guys clearly are not scientists and don't understand the dangers of running experiments in your house. It's a bad idea to do experiments in an apt. building, especially ones that involve microbes, gases, or any chemicals that are more reactive than table salt. Would you want to be living next to this person? No company that I'm aware of would allow someone to perform experiments at their house, it's just crying for a lawsuit and loss of insurance. it's not that I don't think one should be able to own scientific equipment, it's just unsafe in general to be running experiments in a residential area.
      • elipabst, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3A child's chemistry set is more dangerous than what this guy was doing. That was the point of why he got the microbes from ATCC, because they were known to be non-pathogenic. He could have cultured much more dangerous things from his mouth, skin, or toilet bowl but he didn't because he *absolutely* wanted to be sure that this wasn't going to be dangerous. The ironic part is that the very fact that he went out of his way to be safe is what he's getting into trouble for.
      • cranium, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1See, the thing is, we're supposed to be having a free country here. If he wasn't doing anything dangerous to others, it's nobody else's business.
    • lodwar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Please tell me your Kidding !
    • elipabst, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2None of the equipment in his house was stolen or even university property for that matter. He paid for everything that was used in this art exhibit. Both the university and ATCC have said they were not defrauded and don't want to pursue litigation against either of them.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2wow u know people have hobbies
  • alexforcefive, on 10/10/2007, -11/+1So the police showed up at his house, and there's a dead woman; a bunch of literature about chemical warfare; lab equipment and bacteria samples in the house. What did you expect them to do?
    • louiedog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Leave the guy alone once the situation was straightened out.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2dont freak out thats what i expect them to do
  • ptsd, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10everyone responsible for attempting to charge this man with a crime should be fired, prosecuted, and jailed...forever.
    • louiedog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4No, that is also excessive. How about a society where things make sense instead?
  • codehkr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I don't want to live in a country where FEAR rules!
  • AbsurdParadox, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10"If you're not a terrorist, you don't have anything to worry about!"
    • hplasm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Bush should ***** himself then.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i hope your joking, and if not were sending you to guantamo hey but your not a terrorist so ull be fine
  • anarchytv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6who's next, Bill Nye?
    • zebbie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3no , next they'll start giving people colored badges to identify them as "gay" or "intelligensia" for later identification.
  • Alchemeron, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7This pattern is not limited to law enforcement. When people lose arguments, are proven wrong, mistaken, or just generally don't like someone, for any reason, they still find a way (or want to find a way) to be against someone. Misremembered that certain date in history? Well it wasn't that important, anyway. Besides, you know more about other areas of history that the other guy doesn't.

    The difference between the shortcomings of average men and women is that they are not charged with securing the public interest. There isn't (shouldn't be, at least) room for spite and ego for those in power.

    It's a shame that pesky system of "checks and balances" is out to lunch.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i think that was one of the most truthful statements i have ever read

      The force is strong with you, please wait a few minutes before commenting again. What the ***** digg let me submit my comment
  • sparkyjoe, on 10/10/2007, -8/+0What's the big deal? I'm glad they are taking precautions...What if the exact opposite happened and they didn't say anything? 1 week later we would see an article like "Rescuers notice what looks like a bio-terrorism lab along with Arabic writings and never reported it. 1 week later Bio-terrorist attack in NYC"...
  • jimhake, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5This is ***** insane!! The government can NEVER admit they are wrong!
    • tomis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2"The government" is not a person. So actually it's the assholes we elect to the government who can't admit they're wrong.
      • WilliamDavis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's not a person, but there's no doubt that large organizations often have established cultures.
  • Spooky51, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Wooooo western NY represent!! GO SABRES!!

    I remember when this happened. It's ***** insane that they're still prosecuting this guy for this. They need to admit this was a false alarm and move on.
  • damnasteroids, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1the mail and wire fraud charges are probably payback for attempting to reveal how absurdly ineffective biowarfare has been proven to be for governments that have spent more time and money developing them that any terrorist organization could possibly hope to.
  • Dahbud, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Thank you. Posted at: http://www.flyingsnail.com/
  • wakananda, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
  •  

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