When a disruptive technology is about to bloom, lawyers get nervous. This has been the case with 3-D printers, but there is one project that it pushing the boundaries: Defense Distributed. Defense Distributed wants to make the “WikiWeapon,” which will be a file. But, it’s the implications of this file that makes this feel like the Crypto Revolution as told by Steven Levy. Eventually, with this file and a 3-D printer, one could print all of the mechanical components for a gun.
But according to this article, Stratasys, whose 3-D printer Defense Distributed wanted to use, pulled out on the deal citing a legal “gray area.” This is the gray area that reads like a Cyberpunk story. In fact, this sounds a lot like Bruce Sterling’s Kiosk. I hope that Defense Distributed is successful. It’s not that I want to live in Revolution-like world (ok, that doesn’t really work but I’m loving that new tv-show, at least until HIMYM Season 7 is available on Netflix), but 3-D printing and Open-source Hardware stands to change our cultural DNA, just like open-source software has. Honestly, it’s not even about the guns, because Defense Distributed wants to make the recipe, which could make a gun. Just like someone could publish a book, or a blog post, on how to make a gun, or model airplane or whatever.
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