DoD Descends On DEFCAD 496
First time accepted submitter He Who Has No Name writes "While the ATF appears to have no open objection to 3D printed firearms at this time, the Department of Defense apparently does. A short while ago, '#DEFCAD has gone dark at the request of the Department of Defense Trade Controls. Take it up with the Secretary of State' appeared on
the group's site, and download links for files hosted there began to give users popups warning of the DoD takeover."
Well, that didn't take long.
Note: As of this writing, the site is returning an error, rather than the message above, but founder Cody Wilson has posted a similar message to twitter. At least the Commander in Chief is in town to deliver the message personally.
Update: 05/09 21:17 GMT by T : Tweet aside, that should be Department of State, rather than Department of Defense, as many readers have pointed out. (Thanks!)
Re:wtf (Score:5, Informative)
ITAR. It's called ITAR.
Re:wtf (Score:4, Informative)
It's actually (allegedly) the Department of State. DEFCAD got their bureaucracy wrong. Would be awesome to get the headline corrected.
Re:Well there ya go (Score:5, Informative)
Come on. This is not about the First Amendment. What they were doing was a brazen violation of ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) which explicitly prohibit the sharing by US individuals/entities of technical data pertaining to defense articles (i.e. those items that appear on the US Munitions List) with foreign entities. Posting on an open website certainly qualifies. To share any such data with a foreign entity requires a license from the State Department.
http://pmddtc.state.gov/regulations_laws/documents/official_itar/2012/ITAR_Part_121.pdf
Re:Well there ya go (Score:3, Informative)
Press is free for those as own one.
Uh, no. (Score:5, Informative)
What you are missing here is that these files this guy is sharing are essentially just descriptions of shapes and therefore typically would be considered speech. The files then let you make arms (though really poor quality ones). He is sharing information though, not arms, which is why this has been transmuted from a second amendment issue to a first amendment one.
I'm still wondering though due to that Tao of Math line if I've been expertly trolled or not.
That's not at all the point (Score:5, Informative)
The point isn't that DOD thinks the files are going to disappear, and it doesn't matter anyway since the purpose isn't to "disarm Americans" or "keep the files out of the hands of Americans" or some other utter garbage.
There are treaties and various arms control export restrictions (ITAR) at stake, and US-based corporations or entities cannot provide arms in violation of these constructs. If this sort of thing is on the Pirate Bay or elsewhere, DOD trade control doesn't care.
Re:Well there ya go (Score:5, Informative)
Anything on the US Munitions List is considered a defense article. These are enumerated in the PDF I referenced and the definitions are quite broad. To wit, the first two items in Category I
* (a) Nonautomatic and semi-automatic .50 inclusive (12.7 mm). .50 caliber
firearms to caliber
* (b) Fully automatic firearms to
inclusive (12.7 mm).
Direct download link?? (Score:5, Informative)
Here's the direct download link to all of their published files...
http://defcad.org/stl/zip/DefDist_DEFCAD_MEGA_PACK_v4.2_(Saito).zip [defcad.org]
Re:Shock news: first Amendment has limits too (Score:5, Informative)
You do realize the "clear and present danger" test was originally created to justify jailing people for protesting against WWI [wikipedia.org], right? If George W. Bush had arrested everyone who protested the Iraq War, would you have been fine with that?
Thankfully, Schenck v. United States was overruled by Brandenburg v. Ohio [wikipedia.org], in favor of the imminent lawless action test, although that doesn't stop ignorant people who think watching a few episodes of Law & Order makes them constitutional scholars from bringing it up over and over.
Here's the letter DEFCAD got from the DoS... (Score:5, Informative)
United States Department of State
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
Offense of Defense Trade Controls Compliance
May 08, 2013
In reply letter to DTCC Case: 13-0001444
[Cody Wilson's address redacted]
Dear Mr. Wilson,
The Department of State, Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance, Enforcement Division (DTCC/END) is responsible for compliance with and civil enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778) (AECA) and the AECA’s implementing regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130) (ITAR). The AECA and the ITAR impose certain requirements and restrictions on the transfer of, and access to, controlled defense articles and related technical data designated by the United States Munitions List (USML) (22 C.F.R. Part 121).
The DTCC/END is conducting a review of technical data made publicly available by Defense Distributed through its 3D printing website, DEFCAD.org, the majority of which appear to be related to items in Category I of the USML. Defense Distributed may have released ITAR-controlled technical data without the required prior authorization from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), a violation of the ITAR.
Technical data regulated under the ITAR refers to information required for the design, development, production, manufacture, assembly, operation, repair, testing, maintenance or modification of defense articles, including information in the form of blueprints, drawings, photographs, plans, instructions or documentation. For a complete definition of technical data, see 120.10 of the ITAR. Pursuant to 127.1 of the ITAR, it is unlawful to export any defense article or technical data for which a license or written approval is required without first obtaining the required authorization from the DDTC. Please note that disclosing (including oral or visual disclosure) or tranferring technical data to a foreign person, whether in the United States or abroad, is considered an export under 120.17 of the ITAR.
The Department believes Defense Distributed may not have established the proper jurisdiction of the subject technical data. To resolve this matter officially, we request that Defense Distributed submit Commodity Jurisdiction (CJ) determination requests for the following selection of data files available on DEFCAD.org, and any other technical data for which Defense Distributed is unable to determine proper jurisdiction:
1.Defense Distributed Liberator pistol
2..22 electric
3.125mm BK-14M high-explosive anti-tank warhead
4.5.56/.223 muzzle brake
5.Springfield XD-40 tactical slide assembly
6.Sound Moderator – slip on
7.“The Dirty Diane” 1/2-28 to 3/4-16 STP S3600 oil filter silencer adapter
8.12 gauge to .22 CB sub-caliber insert
9.Voltlock electronic black powder system
10.VZ-58 sight
DTCC/END requests that Defense Distributed submits its CJ requests within three weeks of the receipt of this letter and notify this office of the final CJ determinations. All CJ requests must be submitted electronically through an online application using the DS-4076 Commodity Jurisdiction Request Form. The form, guidance for submitting CJ requests, and other relevant information such as a copy of the ITAR can be found on DDTC’s website at http://www.pmddtc.state.gov./ [pmddtc.state.gov]
Until the Department provides Defense Distributed with the final CJ determinations, Defense Distributed should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled. This means that all such data shoudl be removed form public access immediately. Defense Distributed should also review the remainder of the data made public on its website to determine whether any additional data may be similarly controlled and proceed according to ITAR requirements.
Additionally, DTCC/END requests information about the procedures Defense Distributed follows to d
Re:Shock news: first Amendment has limits too (Score:4, Informative)
Don't have to go through the trouble and expense of creating a gun (and ammo) that's invisible to x-ray and metal detectors. Just make a cheap, throw away slingshot with a couple of marbles and you have the equivalent of a silenced zip gun that's invisible to detectors, for all of about $10. If you can stash some ball bearings inside an obvious metallic object (metal pen, etc...) now you've got high density rounds that will do a through-and-through on someones head or torso. The people of Okinawa learned during Japanese occupations that effective weapons don't have to be complex.
Re:That's not at all the point (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, it is about "controlling firearm dissemination"...for EXPORT. That's why the State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance is involved. If you've already made up your mind that the true motive relates somehow to American citizens in a country with as many privately owned firearms as people, no amount of logic or reason will change your mind.
Re:Shock news: first Amendment has limits too (Score:4, Informative)
It never ceases to amaze me how people are able to seize on the Amendments to justify their own short-sighted, stupid, destructive, extremist and anarchist hankerings.
Of course there are limits to how far you can push your first-amendment rights; there have to be. See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution [wikipedia.org] and scroll down to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes who formulated the clear and present danger test for free speech cases.
Thing is, Holmes was wrong in that case [popehat.com].
Re:Uh, no. (Score:4, Informative)
"This T-Shirt is a Munition" (Score:5, Informative)
Basically, the shirts had RSA as implemented in 3 lines of unreadable-even-for-perl code, which at the time was illegal to export in machine-readable format (Thanks, ITAR!). I believe there were multiple variations, including barcode versions for extra-crunchy machine-readability and at least one person who attempted to turn himself into a munition by getting it tattooed on. Later on there was a similar movement around DeCSS (not "munitions" related); I still have at least one of the shirts from that.
Seems to me that this is pretty clearly in the same general category.
Oh, and "damn kids"
Re:Direct download link?? (Score:5, Informative)
Here are a few mirrors to wreck the State Department's day:
http://www.jraxis.com/tmp/DefDist_DEFCAD_MEGA_PACK_v4.2_(Saito).zip [jraxis.com]
http://www.eprci.net/DefDist_DEFCAD_MEGA_PACK_v4.2_(Saito).zip [eprci.net]
https://www.nhteaparty.org/DefDist_DEFCAD_MEGA_PACK_v4.2_(Saito).zip [nhteaparty.org]
http://www.manchfreepress.com/sites/default/files/DefDist_DEFCAD_MEGA_PACK_v4.2_(Saito).zip [manchfreepress.com]