The War on 3D Printing Begins

May 11, 2013 (LocalOrg) - It was inevitable. A technology like 3D printing that essentially puts cheap labor, manufacturing, and retail all in the same place - upon one's desktop - spells the absolute, utter and permanent end to the monopolies and unwarranted power and influence of the corporate-financier elite who have lorded over humanity since human civilization began - a permanent end the elite will fight against with the total summation of their ill-gotten power and influence.

The pretext being used to begin this war, is a 3D printed gun built and demonstrated by Defense Distributed in Austin, Texas. After designing, printing out, and firing the 3D printed gun, the US State Department demanded that the designs, distributed for free on the Internet, be taken down - claiming tenuously that by posting the designs on the Internet, arms export bans may have been violated - this the same government that is on record, openly shipping arms, cash, and military equipment to its own listed terrorist organizations from the Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK or MKO) in Iraq and Iran, to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) in Libya, to Al Qaeda's Syrian franchise, Jabhat al-Nusra.

In the Independent's article, "US government orders Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed to remove blueprint for 3D-printed handgun from the web," it's reported that: 

The US government has demanded the removal of online files which allow users to 3D-print their own unregistered gun at home.

The blueprint has so far been downloaded more than 100,000 times since Defense Distributed - which spent a year designing the “Liberator” handgun - made it available online.

Last week Defense Distributed built the gun from plastic on an industrial 3D printer bought on eBay for $8,000 (£5,140), and fired it.

The Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance wrote to the company's founder Cody Wilson demanding the designs be "removed from public access" until he could prove he had not broken laws governing shipping weapons overseas.

3D Printing: The Sum of All Corporate-Fascist Fears 

Inspiration for Starting a Hackerspace

May 4, 2013 (LocalOrg) - Citizen Science Quarterly recently published a feature titled, "Hackerspaces @ the_beginning (the book)," summarizing the 108 page book which chronicles the creation, challenges and successes of hackerspaces around the world. Published by Bre Pettis (of Makerbot fame, co-founder of the NYC Resistor hackerspace), Astera Schneeweisz, and Jens Ohlig, it represents three years of research and documentation presented in an easy-to-read narrative. Best of all, the book is offered in .pdf format for free. Citizen Science Quarterly offers a link to download the original file here, and an online version can be viewed here, on Scribd. 

Hackerspaces, for those that do not know, are physical spaces where people meet and work on projects related to science and technology. Functioning much like a gym where you pay dues to gain access to exercising equipment, hackerspaces collect dues to pay for the space and tech equipment.

The importance of these "local institutions" is that they allow ordinary people to directly work on and advance modern technology - ranging from computers and 3D printers, to synthetic biology and homebrewed drones. The democratization of this technology is of absolute importance to prevent an increasingly dangerous technological divide between special interests and the masses.