3D printing promises a glorious future, one where you'll be able to create and manufacture nearly anything you can think of right from the comfort of your own home. But the future potential of 3D printing isn't limited by your imagination alone: The law is tossing up barriers for the nascent technology.
In fact, the U.S. government has already prevented one Texas man from distributing a firearm design online. But the challenge of controlling the online distribution of 3D printing designs may soon be much harder, thanks to the efforts of a London-based technologist.
An example of a 3D printing design file obscured by Disarming Corruptor. (Click to enlarge.)
A new experimental app, dubbed Disarming Corruptor, promises to let you share 3D printing designs right under the nose of law enforcement and the copyright police. Created by Matthew Plummer-Fernadez, Disarming Corruptor uses basic encryption to take your 3D Yoda figurine, weapon, or other piece of contrabrand and disguise it as something else.
Instead of sharing a Steve Jobs doll on a site like MakerBot's Thingiverse, for example, you could share an object that looks like an abstract sculpture or a crumpled ball of paper. (And no, I have no idea what that design really is).
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon