HIGH-TECH whizz-kids are tapping into a computer disc containing a recipe for anarchy.
Council watchdogs are calling for tighter controls on the software available to children and the need to educate parents about the dangers of discs.
This follows the tragic case of a 15-year-old Blackpool boy who lost an eye after a self-made bomb exploded in his face last December.
The boy had been influenced by instructions for making the device contained on a floppy disc entitled the Jolly Roger Cook Book which he allegedly bought at a car boot sale for a few pounds.
Lancashire's Chief Trading Standards Officer Jim Potts told councillors at the Fire Service and Public Protection Committee that when the disc was examined it was found to contain information presented in "street cred" language including:
How to grow marijuana
How to conduct credit card frauds
How to get hold of chemicals needed for bomb making, including instructions about how to sneak back into school and steal them from the chemistry department.
How to rip off a cash register.
The disc was an "underground" product with no copyright owner and could have been copied from another disc or from other sources, including the Internet.
Mr Potts said that there were no controls over selling this sort of text-only material to children, only over discs containing visual information.
"This is not boys own stuff," he said. "It is a menu for serious fires, explosions, drugs and crime and we are amazed these things are being circulated."
Coun Pat Case called for a leaflet educating parents about the physical and moral dangers of these floppy discs.
"Any parent can have absolutely no idea about the implications of what their children are seeing," she said.
Coun Don Yates added: "Most adults are terrified of technology but we can't just switch off."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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