EFF: "Internet Publication of 3D Printing Files About Guns: Facts and What's at Stake"

[friendly_iconoclast]

Orignally posted at the Civil Liberties group:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11682359

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/08/internet-publication-3d-printing-files-about-guns-facts-and-whats-stake

Our government has a history of characterizing information (like encryption technology) and ideas (like socialism or Islam) as dangerous and likely to lead to violence. A free society cannot give the government unbridled discretion to make those choices, because of the systematic oppression that such a government can engage in...

...It’s dangerous for the Executive Branch to have so much control over the public’s right to share information online. Without meaningful restrictions on how and when the State Department can exercise its power, the risk of politically motivated censorship is extremely high.

In absence of laws dictating when the government can and can’t use this power, politically motivated censorship is unavoidable. As EFF argued in our amicus brief, echoing concerns raised by the Supreme Court, “Human nature creates an unacceptably high risk that excessive discretion will be used unconstitutionally, and such violations would be very difficult to prove on a case-by-case basis.” Under the same law, the government could try to bar activists from sharing instructions for treating the effects of tear gas and other chemical weapons, or researchers from spreading information about the government’s use of mass surveillance tools.

Or it could bar technologists from publishing the encryption technologies that we all use to protect ourselves from criminals online. In the 1990s, EFF successfully argued that it was unconstitutional for the government to use these export regulations to ban the online distribution of computer code used for effective encryption. Two decades later, the government has again used this unconstitutional export control regime in a way that gives it broad control over who can share information about a wide range of technologies online, with no safeguards ensuring that it doesn’t ban certain speakers for political reasons...

Or ban 'information on how to obtain abortions', or 'how to make misoprostol without a prescription',
or 'how to protect ones' self and loved ones from ICE'...

Don't get me wrong, Cody Wilson is a sociopathic, vile human being- but as someone once said, "Free speech is for assholes"

[PoliticAverse]

1. "it could bar technologists from publishing the encryption technologies" - they actually tried...

to use the same law the state department tried to use to bar the 3D gun files (ITAR) to stop the publication
of encryption algorithms.

See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernstein_v._United_States
https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?httpsredir=1&article=1180&context=btlj

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. And the same thing that happened then is happening now: Mirror sites galore

This information isn't going away and never will, like it or not

Though I doubt it will be put on a T-shirt...

[PoliticAverse]

3. "The Internet treats censorship as damage, and routes around it." n/t

[Hoyt]

4. The "Cody Wilson" in OP wants to make sure white wing racists have access to guns.

Imagine being able to print a gun that gets through detectors. Every white wing gun fancier wants one of those for his weapons cache.


Cody Wilson -- Defense Distributed and the promoter of the printable guns in the OP -- is your typical white wing racist -- like most of today's gun fanciers.

A review of Wilson's book, aptly titled "Come and Take It" in reference to white wingers' chant "Come and Take Them (guns)," The Pacific Standard started it's review of the Wilson's book as follows:

PRINTED PISTOLS AND RACIAL PANIC -- When Cody Wilson pioneered 3-D printing for guns, he claimed the technology represented a victory for liberty. In Wilson's new book, it seems "liberty" can also mean "RACIAL PURITY."

https://psmag.com/news/printed-pistols-and-racial-panic


____________

One can also read about Wilson on the Southern Poverty Law Center page. That's quite an accomplishment for white wingers.

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/cody-rutledge-wilson

______________

You can also find videos on youtube about this white winger, who kind of reminds me of Paul Ryan.

________

[friendly_iconoclast]

9. He reminds me of a more tech oriented David Koresh, or a better-socialized Charles Manson...

[Hoyt]

10. Your typical white wing gun-humper, racist, and gun profiteer.

[friendly_iconoclast]

11. As EFF pointed out, trying to stop him will cause a hell of a lot of collateral damage...

...and hurt far more people than his gimcrack guns ever will.

[Hoyt]

12. Not sure about that, but I get why gunners would spread the thought.

[friendly_iconoclast]

14. Homemade guns can be (and already have been) made, as see the link below

https://www.google.com/search?q=homemade+submachine+guns&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Wilson is shilling his 3D printing business by passing himself off as some sort of half-assed 'freedom fighter'.

Don't feel bad- a lot of other people have fallen for this moral panic.

[Hoyt]

15. There have always been racists, cancer, greedy people, etc. Doesn't make it right. I'm sure most

gunners are fine with Wilson, just like they are with Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, and other hateful groups that support guns.

[friendly_iconoclast]

13. "Imagine being able to print a gun that gets through detectors." Such guns don't exist...

...and anyone who thinks that this Wilson can do so has fallen for a moral panic.

[Hoyt]

16. They actually do if you leave out the metal plate, but keep supporting homemade guns to go

with your store bought ones.

[friendly_iconoclast]

17. Stop deliberately misrepresenting what I've said. Also, I own no guns of any sort.

[Throck]

5. Published 1971

How does the concept of this differ from the Anarchist Cookbook?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

6. That depends on your view

Information is information. OTOH specific information on say how to manufacture TATB and where and how steal enriched uranium or plutonium might be another matter. The uranium/plutonium stuff might earn you some attention from a few three letter acronyms.

[Throck]

7. My faith in humanity is fading.

Dark hearts and dark souls.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

8. regulations on ITAR compliance, munitions licenses, classified information... are so ridiculous...

...companies have a non-trivial number of experts and attorneys working on the impacts. It's costly and tedious. No wonder toilet seats are $500.