Defcad.com Wants To Be the Google of 3D-Printable Guns

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Defcad.com Wants To Be the Google of 3D-Printable Guns

Posted by timothy on Tuesday March 12, 2013 @02:13AM from the no-takebacks-either dept.

Sparrowvsrevolution writes that at this year's SXSW, Defense Distributed founder Code Wilson has announced a for-profit spinoff of his gun-printing project, from which people will be able to search for and download gun-related CAD files. "Though the search engine will index all types of files, Wilson says he hopes the group's reputation for hosting politically incendiary content will mean users trust that it won't censor search results. 'When we say you should have access to these files, people believe we mean that,' says Wilson. 'No takedowns. No removals. We'd fight everything to the full extent of the law.' Along with the SXSW announcement, Wilson also released a provocative video where he lays out the plan for Defcad.com and criticizes gun control advocates and 'collusive' 3D printing companies like Makerbot."

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My first thought by Ukab+the+Great · 2013-03-12 02:18 · Score: 4, Funny

is who would name their kid "Code". My second thought is "duh, I'm on Slashdot".
1. Re:My first thought by CanHasDIY · 2013-03-12 02:52 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  is who would name their kid "Code". My second thought is "duh, I'm on Slashdot".
  Wishful thinking on behalf of the submitter - TFA has his name spelled correctly.
  
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No takedowns. No removals. by OzPeter · 2013-03-12 02:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

Hmm .. is history about to repeat itself? I seem to remember there used to be a bunch of mp3 hosting sites that aren't here now. I'm guessing that this guy will be headed to oblivion once people start up-loading 3d scans of copywrited material - whether it is from a gun manufacturer or from Disney.
Good luck finding somewhere safe to host the servers.

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1. Re:No takedowns. No removals. by Mystakaphoros · 2013-03-12 02:30 · Score: 2
  
  Copies of Kalashnikov's work are made pretty much every place on the globe already.
2. Re:No takedowns. No removals. by Attila+Dimedici · 2013-03-12 02:33 · Score: 2
  
  The question is whether he meant exactly what he said, or if he failed to think it all the way through. Did he mean that any 3D printing file that anyone uploads to their site, even if the copyright on the file belongs to someone else would remain on their site until a court orders them to take it down? Which is the literal interpretation of the words he said. Or did he mean that as long as the file uploaded to their site is not owned by someone who requests they take it down they will leave it up, no matter how offensive some people might find it? If he means the latter, and has deep enough pockets, he may well be able to keep the doors open and the servers online. He did leave himself an out by saying they would fight to keep things up "to the full extent of the law." That qualifier suggests that his meaning was closer to the latter than to the former.
  
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Re:uh oh by OzPeter · 2013-03-12 02:32 · Score: 2

Better just move the hosting to North Korea right now and get it over with, lol.
You think think the Glorious Leader will welcome with open arms someone who believes his mission is to give uncontrollable numbers of weapons to the masses? I

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Frankly Code, no one gives a damn. by Seraphim_72 · 2013-03-12 02:37 · Score: 3, Insightful

What you are doing is perfectly legal, has been for years. The plans to build all sorts of guns have been out for ages. The government really doesn't care because making a gun is perfectly legal. Calling it "hosting politically incendiary content" isn't going to make it so. It isn't going to be the Big Bad Government that is going to take you down either, it is the wife of the guy that has one of your designs blow up in his face that is going to soak up every dime you are worth. Go ask Paladin Press how it works, I am sure they will give you an ear full.

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1. Re:Frankly Code, no one gives a damn. by OzPeter · 2013-03-12 02:47 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Calling it "hosting politically incendiary content" isn't going to make it so.
  
  I'm getting the feeling that we are only talking about this because he is an attention-whore who is slinging around some meaningless words in order to drive traffic to his site.
  
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2. Re:Frankly Code, no one gives a damn. by Sarten-X · 2013-03-12 03:08 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's not the government that is out to get you, the freedom-loving individual. It's the other freedom-loving individuals, whose freedom and yours have come into conflict. They're the ones who will fight you, and they're the ones who will use the government as a weapon in that fight.
  The government is indeed a brutal tool, but it's a double-edged sword, that will decide for itself who will be struck. That decision is based on the opinions of judges throughout history, who have made decisions on the subjective evidence of whose freedom must be suppressed to bring about the most benefit for society.
  To sway those judges to your favor, promise and demonstrate a benefit to society and respect for the freedom and happiness of others. To turn those judges against you, promise to incite mayhem and subvert government authority, and give others the tools and encouragement to do so.
  
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  You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
3. Re:Frankly Code, no one gives a damn. by CanHasDIY · 2013-03-12 04:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's not the government that is out to get you, the freedom-loving individual. It's the other freedom-loving individuals, whose freedom and yours have come into conflict. They're the ones who will fight you, and they're the ones who will use the government as a weapon in that fight.
  If you're of the persuasion that you have a right to force others (or have the government force others on your behalf) to give up their freedoms so you can have some warm, fuzzy feeling, you do not fit the description of "freedom-loving individual."
  
  --
  An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Re:Punk by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2013-03-12 02:46 · Score: 4, Funny

"It's a .44 Defcad, the most powerful handgun printed, and it'll blow my hand clean off. So - hey, knock it off with the laughter!"
Re:NRA: free speech champs by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-12 02:47 · Score: 2, Insightful

I dunno if the NRA would want to be on his side when the copyrighted designs of the gun manufacturers that support them are being posted on his website...
Interesting intersection of Patent and Copyright by Erich · 2013-03-12 02:47 · Score: 4, Interesting

It's usually hard to copyright a "thing". If you make a thing -- a new type of shelving or gun or glass or pen or chair or whatever -- you can't get a copyright on it, you can maybe get a patent on it.
So for a CAD file of a gun, the CAD file could be copyrighted... but it would be copyrighted by the author, not by the manufacturer of the gun it was a clone of (unless they were the author, of course). Now, printing out the gun might be manufacturing something covered by patents... but copying the file wouldn't be creating the gun.
3D printing will sure be interesting from a legal standpoint, it potentially brings copyright and patent law together for just about everything. I would hope that we could establish that CAD files for 3D printers are equal to recipes for the purposes of copyright: a series of steps to create something. But that's certainly not what happened for source code.

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Less drama more substance by h4rr4r · 2013-03-12 02:52 · Score: 4, Insightful

How about before you become the google of something you prove that this even exists.
Show me a working 3d printed gun. Not a lower for an AR, not a magazine, but an actually working 3d printed gun. That means you have to 3d print the parts that go bang. Otherwise you are just 3d printing gun accessories.
1. Re:Less drama more substance by freeze128 · 2013-03-12 03:11 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  He could be the Hank Hill of 3D printing....
  
  "I sell guns and gun accessories."
2. Re:Less drama more substance by MBGMorden · 2013-03-12 03:36 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  By law the lower for an AR IS the gun. Except for the serialed received every other component of a gun is considered parts.. Its the only part that requires a background check, and under most pending legislation will be the only actual part banned from sale to civilians (largely the same for magazines).
  
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3. Re:Less drama more substance by L3370 · 2013-03-12 04:03 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The lower receiver is the only part of the gun thats considered a gun by the law, and for good reason. It houses the magazine and the fire controls (safety, select fire--if applicable, trigger) and everything connects to it.
  
  For a car analogy, its the frame and the engine. If you can make receivers, you're in the league with Ford and Toyota. If you make buttstocks and compensators, you're that company that sells import tuner supplies and curb feelers for gigantic low-riders.
4. Re:Less drama more substance by L3370 · 2013-03-12 04:06 · Score: 2
  
  What they print is referred to as a "stripped" lower, like the frame of a car. fire controls and various parts within it are 5$ items. springs, pins, and various pieces of shaped metal.
Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-12 02:57 · Score: 2, Funny

False dichotomy.
Why can't it be both?
Immediate Goal by carrier+lost · 2013-03-12 03:01 · Score: 3, Funny

I want to be the Google of naming things "The Google of ..."

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Re:NRA: free speech champs by MBGMorden · 2013-03-12 03:29 · Score: 5, Informative

Copyrighted designs aren't really much of a thing in the gun industry. As a matter of fact tons of clones and copies are made of various designs.
The Mauser bolt action is cloned by countless companies.
The AR15 design is cloned by at least a few dozen different companies.
The Colt 1911 design is cloned by Kimber, Rock Island, STI, SVI, Ruger, Remington, S&W, Springfield, Taurus, and about a bazillion more.
The Beretta 92 design is cloned by both Taurus and Turkey
The Walther P99 is cloned by Canik.
The CZ-75 design is cloned by Tanfoglio and Canik.
The Glock is cloned by Timberwolf
The Ruger 10/22 is cloned by Volquartsen
And so forth for many, many models. Gun technology in use today has been nearly perfected for close to 100 years. It truly is more about just making a quality product than the "IP" so many other industries worry about.

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"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Re:NRA: free speech champs by Richy_T · 2013-03-12 04:04 · Score: 2

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. But never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by laziness.
Re:Pay the gun nuts no attention. by lxs · 2013-03-12 04:37 · Score: 2

I hate gun nuts as much as you, and yet I applaud what he is doing. We need more repositories for printable 3D objects on the Internet.
In the US there is a tradition of unsavory characters you wouldn't leave alone with your dog defending your freedoms. People like Larry Flynt and RMS and this guy.
Re:NRA: free speech champs by ducman · 2013-03-12 04:43 · Score: 4, Informative

The NRA doesn't represent the gun manufacturers. It's an association of dues-paying individual members.

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Re:uh oh by BitZtream · 2013-03-12 05:45 · Score: 2

Actually, they don't. Unless you consider their entire male population as reservists but ignore everyone else's. Which they do and we don't.
Don't let actual knowledge of the situation prevent you from submitting a truthful depiction of the situation or anything, always better to sensationalize and lie.

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Re:Better Guns and Other Things Through Open Sourc by Ogi_UnixNut · 2013-03-12 06:43 · Score: 2

I do wonder then if you can use other fuels as a propellant, anything from propane onwards can be compressed and ignited to force a projectile, not unlike in an IC engine.
What is the government going to do? Ban everything from Gasoline onwards? No flammable fuels anymore?
That does not even touch on the fact that gunpowder is trivial to make yourself. If people could make it hundreds of years ago with their technology level, I'm sure a suitably driven individual could do it now in his backyard.
Pretty good actually by SuperKendall · 2013-03-12 07:28 · Score: 2

What good is a gun without ammunition?
Given that the person you are aiming the gun at has no idea if it is loaded or not, actually pretty good as a deterrent.
That ignores of course the incredible ease with which you can make something to fire out of a gun (worst case, you can make a breech-loader and fire anything at all).

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Re:NRA: free speech champs by Dan+Hayes · 2013-03-12 08:33 · Score: 2

And yet all those millions of Iraqis with AK-47s didn't change anything in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Maybe your analysis is a little lacking?