We don't have to worry about the government banning 3D printer files.
They can't even stamp out kiddie-porn.
If they can't eliminate something that's illegal to create, possess and distribute in every single state; how are they going to eliminate something that's legal in almost every state?
Remember, there are no federal laws prohibiting the creation, possession or distribution of CAD/CAM files that depict a firearm. There's a couple of laws, that if stretched to their breaking points, which govern distribution; none prohibiting it.
I have no direct knowledge of this, but I am told that a lot of what "kiddie porn" is out there is either amateur-made stuff, or reprints of very old material. And it's often sold by the government, hoping to entrap and nail people with an interest in it, through ads promising "young stuff," without saying out loud that it's illegal.
ReplyDeleteYou also run into definitional problems. Are pictures of naked children "kiddie porn?" I've heard of people being nailed for having pictures of their own kids in the bathtub or in swimsuits by overzealous prosecutors.
But "kiddie porn" and pedophiles are such useful whipping boys for the government and such wonderful excuses to expand government power, that they will always be with us. Kind of like Emmanuel Goldstein in 1984.