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Australia Government Crime Printer Build

Australian State Bans Possession of Blueprints For 3D Printing Firearms (computerworld.com.au) 313

Posted by samzenpus from the go-directly-to-jail dept.
angry tapir writes: Possessing files that can be used to 3D print firearms will soon be illegal in the Australian state of New South Wales after new legislation, passed last week by state parliament, comes into effect. Possessing files for 3D printing guns will be punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The provisions "are targeted at criminals who think they can steal or modify firearms or manufacture firearms from 3D blueprints," NSW's justice minister, Troy Grant, said when introducing the bill in the state's lower house on 27 October. "Those who think they can skirt the law will find themselves facing some of the toughest penalties for firearms offences in this country," Grant said.
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Australian State Bans Possession of Blueprints For 3D Printing Firearms More

Australian State Bans Possession of Blueprints For 3D Printing Firearms

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  • Torrent (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rfengr ( 910026 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:14AM (#50984489)
    Man, what a nanny state. Need to put that defense distributed torrent back up.

    • Re:Torrent (Score:5, Funny)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:40AM (#50984643) Homepage Journal

      Just mail some 3D blueprints to every .au address you can find. That would spice up things a bit.

      "From: primeminister@gov.au" of course.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by KGIII ( 973947 )

        In short order, with distributed compute power, we might be able to set this up in chunks (each getting a reasonable set) and every one of us send out a few hundred thousand of them to ensure we've covered every single alphanumerical combination up to 12 letters for the entirety of the .gov.au addresses or whatnot. With enough time, and enough effort, we could even cover all the major email providers including the various ISPs. We can even us VPNs and spread our message of love and freedom across the globe

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          This would create an interesting legal issue. If you were to mail out something that was illegal in your country as well, it would be easy for them to contact your local police force. Since 3D printed gun blueprints are legal in most places, this creates a bit of a problem for them. They could try to extradite you I suppose, depending on how stupid your country's extradition agreement is.

    • Re:Torrent (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:44AM (#50984665) Homepage

      The funny part is it's a LOT easier to make an AK47 (full automatic) in a garage with some cheap easy to get tools than it is to print a plastic pistol with a single high cost hard to get tool. I can go to any tool store and buy everything I need to make an AK47 for less than 1/3rd the price of the 3d printer that is capable of doing it. Yes my cheapie china metal lathe will be of crap quality and probably fail after making only a a few guns, but it's still possible.

      Yet these drooling morons in charge of most governments are so poorly educated that they prefer to freak out about a plastic toy that only rich people are able to actually make and the usability of the "gun" is very very low. Every time there is a new "outrage" or "law" passed on this thing it tells me that the leaders of that country have IQ's that are so close to 80 (functioning moron level) that it's scares me a bit.

      If people are electing very low IQ people to leadership positions does that mean the collective IQ of the general population is so low that they think these people are smart?

      • Re:Torrent (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Colin Castro ( 2881349 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @09:50AM (#50985065)
        Studies show that the larger the group the worse the decision they make is.

        • Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.

          Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        How many people have been killed in modern democratic countries with home-made AK47s, or any kind of home-made rifle? Apparently even the minimal skill and equipment to make your own is more than most people are willing to invest.

        The reason people are more concerned about 3D printed guns is that once 3D printers become cheap and widely available, even a young child could download and print one, and the normal controls on the sale to adults bypassed.

        How likely that is, I don't know... On the one hand, TV sho

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by jcdr ( 178250 )

          Every children could take a knife in a kitchen, and most of those knife will probably be more lethal than a plastic gun, without any building effort.

      • The promise of 3d printing is however, that soon, we all will have a 3d printer, and replicating anything can be done for cost-of-material and energy. Your metal shop may soon be out priced. And require less know-how.
        Of course the whole "you may not know this particular bit of information" ban is a general thought-police ban, and as such is utterly evil.. but yeah..

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by eth1 ( 94901 )

        They're not stupid, they just want the ability to throw anyone they want in prison for 14 years just by emailing them a file.

      • If people are electing very low IQ people to leadership positions does that mean the collective IQ of the general population is so low that they think these people are smart?

        Voting is compulsory here. Otherwise none of us would vote at all. We don't elect leaders, we just go somewhere and tick the name of the person we hate the least on a sheet of paper so we avoid the $150 fine.

        Except young up and coming student politicians, but they've already been through the frontal lobotomy procedure which is a pre-requisite to hold public office in Australia.

      • The conventional defense against bringing firearms into crowded places (like sports stadiums, political speeches (when four of your presidents get shot (McKinley, Lincoln, TDR, Kennedy) it's kinda an issue), airports) has been metal detectors. If you start making guns that can bypass metal detectors, you open up a new vector of attack in said crowded places.

        Given that using firearms in a crowded place to defend people is a Bad Idea (TM) because of collatoral damage, how do you propose we protect people? A

  • Which is worse in AU? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JeffOwl ( 2858633 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:20AM (#50984523)
    The penalty for having a digital file that can be used in conjunction with a 3D printer to create a gun, or the penalty for not turning over your encryption keys?

  • A really effective response (Score:3)

    by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:22AM (#50984531)
    So you make sure you know the URL, or you keep the file away from prying eyes. As usual in IT the legislation is long out of date. Meanwhile of course sending the file to upstanding citizens could have some entertaining effects...

    • 1 blueprint streaming service: you point the machine at an URL and it sends the instructions as needed.

      2 break the plans into a number of sections: start with section 1 and then erase 1 when you have 3 done

      3 hide the parts needed in a number of other plans

      4 edit the plans so that if you follow the plans as written the finished product will not work

      any others??

  • You can have my guns when you pry my thumb drive from my warm, pasty hands.

  • And how many have been made or used (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Izuzan ( 2620111 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:23AM (#50984549)

    In the commission or a crime ?

    Yeah tjhats what i thought. Kneejerk reactions to a non issue.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

      And what if you make one from wood? Insanely dangerous to shoot with but a fun exercise.

    • I'm thinking this might be an attempt to kill two birds with one stone and exercise gun control while also having another excuse to censor the Internet.

    • Yeah tjhats what i thought. Kneejerk reactions to a non issue.

      This isn't a kneejerk reaction. It's another day in parliament. They need to look busy since all other problems in NSW have been solved.

  • Next step is the book. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:33AM (#50984609) Homepage Journal

    We've been here before with crypto. The next step is to write the book and publish a gun source in the appendix. Let them start trying to ban the books. It reveals their true nature.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      What difference does book format make? Books full of child pornography are already illegal, for example. What makes you think 3D printed weapons would be any different, or generate a different reaction when banned?

      • What difference does book format make? Books full of child pornography are already illegal, for example. What makes you think 3D printed weapons would be any different, or generate a different reaction when banned?

        It highlights the freedom of speech and press questions. It worked reasonably well with encryption a couple of decades ago. Of course, the encryption debate has come roaring back recently, but that doesn't mean the book idea didn't work, or that it can't work again.

        The child pornography argument is something of a red herring sitting as it does right at the intersection of the most deep-seated, cross-ideology hot buttons there are.

    • This worked in the US because of the 1st amendment. This probably would not work in Australia.

      The US is the only country with such extensive speech protections.

    • Let them start trying to ban the books.

      There are many books already banned in Australia [unimelb.edu.au]

      American Psycho and the Anarchists Cookbook are the only two I know of in my collection.

  • With the correct program, any file can be used to print a 3D firearm.

  • Because they are not sent as blueprints. So at that point it's completely legal to have the gcode files for the printer.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @08:40AM (#50984647)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's always interesting to see one's own country through the lens of another.

      A specific event caused the clampdown on gun ownership in Australia. Following Port Arthur and the ensuing confiscation of weaponry, incidents of gun violence basically dropped to zero. Violent crime in general has decreased - individual categories (robberies, assaults, kidnappings, sexual assaults, etc) are either trending downwards or not increased at all.

      I've owned guns, I know people who still own and use guns for recreation

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xtal ( 49134 )

      USA puts people in prison for life without parole for simple possession. Something to think about.

      Outlawing information - any information - is the first step down a dark road. The proposed law also outlaws any CNC files that could be used for same; but this information is perfectly valid for a gunsmith, and it's a short walk from that to machinery or chemistry texts.

      Interesting times.

    • Nobody fears a swift death at the hands of a victim. That's a stupid argument. Victims are harmless, armed or not; you take them by surprise and you take them down. If they have weapons, you take them away before they can use them--this is hilariously easy when you attack someone and they turn out to have a firearm. A knife is actually more of a difficult proposition.

      *Society* has the power to reduce crime. The United States society tolerates crime: if you attack someone else, it's not my business;

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by steveha ( 103154 )

        Victims are harmless, armed or not; you take them by surprise and you take them down. If they have weapons, you take them away before they can use them--this is hilariously easy when you attack someone and they turn out to have a firearm. A knife is actually more of a difficult proposition.

        Citations, please. You have stated as fact that nobody ever successfully uses a firearm to prevent a violent attack, and that a knife is more likely to work for this purpose.

        There is solid research estimating that firear

  • ...for now. I've yet to hear about a 3D printed gun that I would think was safe to be in the vicinity of when it was fired. Simple homemade zip guns are safer. I suppose a machined plastic composite (John Malcovich!) is effective & might slip through a metal detector (not sure how you get the ammo through) but we sure haven't heard much about them.

    As the technology progresses this will likely change. But right now the high end 3D printer I have access to in my R&D lab couldn't create a decent,

    • I suppose a machined plastic composite (John Malcovich!) is effective & might slip through a metal detector (not sure how you get the ammo through)

      Oh come on! Dangling from your keyring! You've seen the movie, haven't you?

  • Why does the law only apply to 3D printers or electronic milling machines? Why not outlaw all blueprints to all firearms, regardless of how they are manufactured?

    Seeing the kind of quality most people get out of their 3D printers, I'm not sure it would actually be easier to produce one on a 3D printer as opposed to using more traditional methods.

  • They probably get you on a short list to be considered for that career move, though. What if I have a cheap little Makerbot and a curious deer-hunting son?

    It was bad enough, with teenage sons, wondering if I ought to get them on a guest wifi to prevent some pron charge.

    Everyone will eventually be a law breaker, at this rate.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dkman ( 863999 )
      I figure the solution is simple. All you need to do is hack the government officials computers and drop the files then make some concerned citizen phone calls. All the officials go to jail for a decade and we can move on with some more intelligent replacements (hopefully).

      Of course, in reality your phone calls about questionable contents on govt official computers would go ignored and nothing would change. You'd probably get caught and go to jail for computer crimes. But one can dream.
  • Next will be a ban for 3D printing files for Mickey Mouse in the USA with jail times up to 99 years.

  • Granted, there are reasons why you want to ban that. (and reasons to allow possession of such plans)

    But these are exactly the same reasons that there are for restricting any plans for selected kinds of weapon to licensed manufacturers. If someone now only includes machine-printable plastic guns, that's nothing more that short-sighted, hype driven, blind "we had to do SOMETHING"..

  • Folks can just view them on a webpage not hosted inside Australia while using the browser in Incognito mode. Law successfully skirted.

  • TPP (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xdor ( 1218206 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @10:05AM (#50985197)
    So are they going to attempt to enforce this in the United States via the Trans-Pacific Partnership [wikipedia.org]?
  • 3D-printed bullets do. Keep the guns and outlaw the bullets!

  • And I'm still seeding the DefDist MegaPack v4.2 [thepiratebay.la] and will continue to do so.

  • illegal to possess an IDEA (Score:3)

    by r-diddly ( 4140775 ) on Monday November 23, 2015 @01:30PM (#50986941)
    I know everybody here wants to get on with the business of rehashing the same old boring arguments about guns, but please notice this is about which IDEAS are illegal to possess. A drawing or blueprint is an idea and a piece of communication. It is not a firearm. In America this would be a 1st Amendment issue (not the 2nd).

  • We've seen this kind of thing before, but it was even more ridiculous when the U.S. government tried to claim that it was illegal to export code that implemented the RSA algorithm.

    Those not familiar might be interested in this link...

    RSA in 3 lines of perl [cypherspace.org]

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