- guardian.co.uk, Saturday July 1 2000 01.10 BST
For as long as it has been a public network, the internet has offered detailed information on every aspect of bomb-making. But the revelation at Copeland's trial that he learned his deadly techniques from the web was a disturbing confirmation of what is available online.
Copeland downloaded The Terrorist's Handbook and How to Make Bombs: Book Two after visiting an internet cafe near Victoria in London.
Both titles are still easily accessible; a search yesterday for the keywords "terrorist" and "handbook" on the Google search engine found nearly 4,000 matches. One site gives instructions on how to acquire ammonium nitrate, Copeland's "first choice" of explosive material.
How to make fuses and timers is also explained, accompanied by what were described at the trial as "facetious" warnings not to experiment. One website begins with the caution: "Don't try anything you find in this document!!!" - followed by an 11-chapter guide to making explosives.
The best-known bomb-making guide, The Anarchist Cookbook, offers instruction on everything from making an atomic bomb to devising a rocket launcher "for under $5". Such sites are, however, a small proportion of the 800m websites on the net, and the material available here can also be found almost as easily in bookshops and libraries.
Roger Darlington, chair of the Internet Watch Foundation, said: "The problem isn't the internet as such, it is ease of access, and anonymity."
Internet access can be traced, however. "Obtaining the information on the internet may betray you more than if you bought it in a bookshop."
The Internet Watch Foundation believes internet service providers, the hosts for websites, should be encouraged to exercise more social responsibility.
