cross-posted from: https://libretechni.ca/post/1263630
New York’s state budget could pass within days. Buried deep in the text is a provision that has nothing to do with balancing the books. Part C of the budget bill would require every 3D printer sold in New York to run surveillance software that scans every design file you create, and blocks anything an algorithm flags as a potential firearm component . A separate provision would expose researchers, journalists, and educators to felony charges simply for possessing or sharing certain design files.
At least in the US, this is pretty ridiculous. We have more murder tools (AKA guns) than people. And considering the majority of them are loaded and unsecured, we obviously don’t care about safety and more guns isn’t something we seem to mind so…
I think we can just print whatever the fuck we want on our 3D printers. The manufacturers of guns can seriously fuck off with this garbage legislation hidden under the guise of safety.
So why is this part of a budget? Why are they allowed to pass laws/regulations as a footnote to a budget.
Its insane, if I presented a budget for approval and it included footnotes adding in random unrelated policies I’d be laughed out of a job.
I think they are hoping it will go unnoticed.
It can also be a result of deal-making like “I will vote for the budget if I can include this other provision, otherwise I am sabotaging the budget.”
Why are they getting away with it? Simple: no negative consequences.
It’s a tool in their toolbox which they have never gotten punised or penalized for using, so why wouldn’t they use it?
I hate to say it, but our lawmakers don’t take us, the voters, seriously enough. Sure, if there is a ferocious backlash, they will listen for a minute. Otherwise they just do what their billionaire donors want. In case of a backlash they can just wait for it to die down, the outrage fades, and they can try to serve the billionaire interests again.
In this case the billionaires fear the peasants 3D printing untraceable guns. Imagine if full auto or selective fire firerams can be 3D printed? In other words, gun regulations cannot work when every citizen is a gun factory.
If our government worked in our interests, none of this would matter because nobody would be angry enough to want to resort to political violence, even if they were armed.
On the other hand if there were say 50 million (out of 340 total) enraged have-nothings with nothing to lose in life, then if only 1% of those 50 actually take action, boy, our government and the billionaires will have their hands full. Bodyguards might start charging 50 million a year to guard the billionaires, and just try to stiff your bodyguards and see what happens then.
Even an idiot understands that it’s not smart to create a society with a whole bunch of desperate people with nothing to lose. But our system is run by people worse than idiots, which is why they will try to regulate and surveil the peasants first, punching down first, before being forced to finally do what they should have always been doing: serve the goddam people, serve the 99%!
Right, put a bit more simply— the people whom the government really serves are nervous about the subjects being angry at them, so this measures of surveillance and control will be pursued and implemented with relative ease.
Because we fucking let them.
You new here?
Nah, but if never stop talking about the absurdity of it all, we’ll start to think it’s the way things should be.
I don’t get it, why are they worried about people making firearms using a 3D printer? I might be wrong, but isn’t it fairly easy to acquire a real firearm in the US? So why would anyone use a 3D printed one?
It’s probably not as easy as you think by regular means (i.e. purchasing vs outright stealing), but the barrier to entry for legal ownership is decidedly lower than that of other developed nations.
I would wager though that the provisions in this bill will have significantly less effect than say, a law that penalizes gun owners for unsecured firearms that are either acquired by or used in the commission of a crime.
The only purpose of including this in the budget is for the legislators and sponsors of this line item can say they did something without actually having to do anything.
The problem with Hochul’s (among others) arguments is that they are legally ambiguous and technically unsound. We need to ensure we are systematically dismantling their talking points as loudly as possible and in the simplest terms. Take a look at some of these gems:
With Glock handguns specifically it’s easy to shove something in the back to block the little catch that stops it from being fully automatic, and right now it’s slightly easier to 3d print the right size piece of plastic than do it with a dremel. Some activists wanted to ban Glocks, but Glock is a big corporation so NY politicians warped it into a 3d printer ban while acting like they this is what you asked for.
And it’s vice-signalling to billionaires because Luigi supposedly had a 3d printed gun.
It’s probably lobbying by corporations who feel threatened by people being able to make and repair their own stuff. Also possibly gun manufacturers, and perhaps the government’s desire to spy on everything people are doing with tech. These things are always dressed up as safety measures.
California is trying to do the same thing. https://youtu.be/5ax9zW0w_gY
When it mandates technology in hardware, manufacturers don’t build a New York-only version. They build one version and sell it everywhere. What passes in Albany won’t stay in New York.
Once again, the USA is being a problem for the entire world.
And, as usual, we don’t get any say in the matter unless/until we completely isolate ourselves from them.
Just once I’d like to see the world’s companies react to dumb local laws by refusing to sell their products where the laws apply. Problem is, other states and countries always introduce matching stupid laws soon enough. California, for example, is introducing a similar restriction on 3D printers.
I’d do that sooner rather than later, things are only going to get crazier
Once again, the USA is being a problem for the entire world.
And, as usual, we don’t get any say in the matter unless/until we completely isolate ourselves from them.
Trouble is, that’s 300 million people and change with a lot of money to spend. Any company would be foolish to turn its back on that market completely.
There are plenty of sucessful companies across a wide range of industries who have never done business in the USA.
The US isn’t as important as it thinks it is.
And even that importance is waning.
And their more successful competitors sell to the whole world.
So what you mean to tell me is that every 3D printer in New York is going to come with an index of firearm components?
There is no such technology. This will effectively ban 3d printers until there is. It’s not as trivial as they make it sound
Given that the printer itself has just enough computing power to just understand “by how many steps I need to move that motor” (or little more) I suppose it should be done at a slicer level, which would be interesting to do.
So people will start distributing presliced gcode.
Yes, but you can tied the printer to a specific slicer in a number of ways.
And you can make the electronic board in a way so that you cannot phisically update the firmware. (Putting it in a read only memory for example)
You can alter the firmware (that you save is in a read only memory) to refuse to load gcode directly from a USB stick, you can have the firmware ask the slicer for a specific handshake protocol. Basically once you can couple the firmware with the slicer and make it not upgradable you can do whatever you want except maybe heavy cryptography. If the only way to change the firmware is to replace the board, I bet a lot of people would do not it and who would do it can simply build their printer from scratch.It would make the printer more exepnsive, sure, but that does not seems to be a problem to the law. Also, it would kill the opensource slicer (or at least try).
Not to mention that someone’s going to come out with a jailbreak option for every 3D printer within a couple of weeks of this being implemented at a manufacturing scale.
I mean, at the end of the day, we’re talking stepper motors, switches, a resistive heater, (EDIT: or two. Forgot about the heated bed) a thermistor (or two, heated bed again), a few fans. maybe a solenoid. What you’re usually buying with a 3d printer is the hardware and the mechanical engineering that went into it, The on board software is… sufficient, but there’s a reason things like Octoprint and Klipper are so popular.
Someone outside the USA who is annoyed at stupid US policies fucking over the rest of the world yet again.
Think of the children!™
Think of the CEOs.
Should we remind them their own department of war once published tm 31-210, that happens to have mindnumbingly simplr gun making instructions with pictures? If sb wants to make a gun and doesn’t give a fuck about laws, they’ll make it not only regardless of unenforceable restrictions, but even regardless whether or not they have a 3d printer.
their own department of war
New York has a departement of war?
I mean, given possessive pronouns (?) do a full 180 in terms of meaning once it comes to power structures (our
dictatorpresident =dictatorpresident over us), they kinda do
Americans do love insisting that it’s impossible to control guns, even though literally every other country does it successfully.
What 3d printing software do you use in your country that detects if gun parts are being printed?
Because as far as I know, that’s impossible.
Edit: I assume the downvote confirms such software doesn’t exist.
I mean you’re looking at what it will take to fully control guns in America.
Any second thoughts?
Yes, instead of trying with laws that are getting sillier and sillier, try to make just one that make sense.
This has nothing to do with guns. That’s just the excuse. This is to kill our rights to self repair.
It is both. And one is necessary for the other.
I mean, even that isn’t going to work, there’ll be ways around it. “Old” printers, 3rd party firmware, jailbroken printers, etc. Life uh, finds a way.
