Why Introducing DRM into 3D Printed Firearms Files Is A Bad Idea [More]
I confess I don't know enough about the subject to weigh in with an informed opinion. I guess my gut reaction is to favor intellectual property rights and to wonder why anyone thinks any transaction they make on the internet won't be discoverable, either through covert keyword or targeted monitoring or by subpoena to suppliers. But that's kneejerk and I can't say I've given it a lot of thought.
The other thing I haven't explored is ITAR data implications. Are there?
I'll try to get to comments every couple hours or so until bedtime, so feel free to educate me with pros and cons.
[Via DDS]
Privacy is a concept who's practical implications have changed radically since the 1970's or so. Once upon a time, none of your readers would have ever heard of David Codrea. Nowadays, just by living in a 21st century civilization, we shed information about ourselves with every purchase, every keystroke, every mile we drive in some web enabled cars. So unless you're making a big deal about hiding your tracks, privacy is just a word. One that is becoming rapidly obsolete. You'd probably be appalled by the amount of information the web will cough up about anyone with a few simple searches. One can make a similar argument about intellectual property rights. It is an interesting concept that, unless one takes difficult and expensive steps, becomes nothing more than an illusion. Ask the folks who developed the $800.00 Saleae logic analyzer that the Chinese sell cloned copies of for $20.00. Someone probably still owns the rights to Gene Stoner's design that became the AR-15, but that's kind of irrelevant to the discussion. Are there .STL files on the web for an AR-15 lower already on the web? More than you can shake a stick at. I got just short of 1.7 million hits with a Google search. The State Department fought Cody Wilson on that one and lost. But the files were on the web before Defense Distributed even got started.
ReplyDeleteSome places to check out to get your wheels a little more up to speed.
"TCP/IP For Dummies"
https://www.torproject.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_web
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYVO7ulhOp0
The issue is pretty simple; it's the same one as "free software" vs. "proprietary software." If your purpose for creating 3D printed firearms is to "democratize" (lower the barriers to) gun ownership, including DRM (a feature that allows you, or someone else, to "turn off" access to the product at any future time) is self-defeating. If your purpose for creating them is to make money, then DRM makes sense, but your overall business model doesn't.
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