The Wrong Stuff

The sentencing of Bilal Abdulla this week to life for his role in the conspiracy to murder civilians in London's West End and the Glasgow Airport is also a reminder of the fallibility of online sources. The Times of London notes that Abdulla and his fellow terrorists "researched bombmaking techniques on the internet and obtained advice on circuitry in chat rooms." The fact that these devices failed to detonate because of incorrect proportions of ingredients may indicate, as we often tell our students, that information from websites and Internet informants often lacks credibility because the expertise there is not vetted by the channels of scholarship, experimental science, or public deliberation.