For those interested in the list but too lazy to read federal documentation (who isn't?) - here you go:
a) Avian influenza virus (highly pathogenic)
b) Bacillus anthracis
c) Botulinum neurotoxin
d) Burkholderia mallei
e) Burkholderia pseudomallei
f) Ebola virus
g) Foot-and-mouth disease virus
h) Francisella tularensis
i) Marburg virus
j) Reconstructed 1918 Influenza virus
k) Rinderpest virus
l) Toxin-producing strains of Clostridium botulinum
m) Variola major virus
n) Variola minor virus
o) Yersinia pestis
Here's a direct link to the dual use research of concern (DURC) policy.
My main concerns will be whether it's going to have a chilling effect on research; especially when it's also unclear to me whether this will have any useful impact beyond another layer of red tape. We already have IRBs, biosafety committees, and select agent lists, and I'm unsure that such a "volluntary" system of a PI tagging their own research for extra bureaucracy will make much headway before a problem occurs.
This is a real problem. Why does this scare you? Probably for the same reason a woman wanting for all people to be equally made people on 4chan angry.
You did read the title of this post at least - right? This wasn't "angry 4-chan" it was "asshole marketing team."
The gizmos, gadgets, and Mac Guffins are merely there to help us ponder the question of "how would the ability to do such and such impact human life/culture/civilization/etc... ?" If that question is ignored, then the story - regardless of the do-hickeys involved - belongs to another genera: perhaps adventure, fantasy, or something else. The question can be treated at the highest levels of galactic civilization and politics or at the lowest levels of an individual's life, but it is the quintessential aspect of Science Fiction.
Not everyone speaks legalese, after all.
Yep. Basically. That and the fact that we're comfortable going into Court and performing in front of a judge and client, putting our knowledge of the law out there and giving advice to people in the most stressful moments of their lives. Ever had a bad day specifically because you knew you had to go confront someone for being a jerk / doing something stupid? That's about 50% of my job. The other 50% is mostly research and writing.
Where there's a will, there's a relative.