“Printcrime” by Cory Doctorow

A few months ago, I read Cory Doctrow's <i>Makers</i>. Having grown up in Orlando, rat as villain was blissful reading. Earlier this spring, I pulled <i>Little Brother</i> off the shelf at the library. As it happened, my son was just finishing <i>Slaughter House Five: or the Children's Crusade</i> at the very point I realized that he might enjoy its young adult tenor more than I would enjoy finishing it out of obligation.<p>Ever since <i>Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i>'s cover in my hand grabbed his attention at the library [following up quickly with a purchased copy of the complete series helped seal the deal] last winter, I've been on a roll for recommending books with him. <i>Player Piano</i> was the only thing close to <i>Hitch-Hiker's Guide</i> I could think of, and his finishing it was how we got to <i>Slaughter-House Five</i>. Indeed, the mentioning of last year's suggestion of <i>Sword of Shannara</i> has been rendered less painful between us by the recent success.<p>Anyway, he really dug <i>Little Brother</i>. So much so he made sure to take it to middle-school everyday and walk out to the bus stop "reading" it, in the morning. As fortune would have it, the evening of the very day he finished it, I was at the library and what should be on the new fiction rack but <i>Homeland</i>. He finished that, too.<p>Now one of the questions that comes around on Ask HN is how do I get my child interested in programming, and I don't think you do, really other than perhaps by modeling behavior, and I've said as much from time to time. But, reading Doctorow sparked my son to check out the computer section at the library - that trip was with mom and he came back with an "Intro to turning a computer on" type book. A couple of days later it was in the back-to-the-library stack.<p>Then about two weeks ago, he asked me if I had a book about Lisp because that was what he had really been looking for at the library. Well of course I did, and he knew it - Graham's <i>Ansi Common Lisp</i> has been floating around the house since I picked it up used from Amazon last August. So a few nights a week he sits and reads and takes notes for a half hour all on his own and in his own way, which is of course the best way to come to any adult activity for a young person.*<p>*OK so I did Youtube the first part of the first SICP lecture video for him on our way to a soccer tournament a week earlier. Until he fell asleep about 15 minutes in. As he was dozing off, however, we got to the part where Sussman says that what we can program is only limited by what we can imagine. That got him to stop nodding his head.

I am often confused by how quickly the futurist community jumps from "machines which mold plastic shapes" to "machines which are capable of creating a laptop". Surely every modern electronic requires an enormous number of materials, some very rare, some in minute quantities, and some of which may require chemically and/or thermally active reactions in their implementation.<p>Do many people genuinely think that we are close to this kind of machine? Because to me I simply see far too many hurdles for it to even become realistic. I know everyone is excited about 3-D printers, but within the current constraints of reality I cannot see how the current ones can do much more than print small plastic mechanical parts.

I remembered the story when I was reading the musings of the Australian police about regulating the cad files.<p>As soon as 3d printers will be able to replicate themselves, every regulation will be moot. Information always finds a way to propagate.

So, one wonders--how does anyone who detests the idea of getting arrested for printing things and having printer tech confiscated simultaneously detest the idea of printing weapons with which to defend yourself and your means of production?

The story seems relevant due to recent news articles about people printing guns. It makes me wonder about what other printable items will be criminalized. Also gets me thinking about the materials used by 3d printers. Right now plastic is the most popular, but who knows, maybe someday it will be "goop".

If you prefer listening to it rather than reading, printcrime was in an Escape Pod Flash piece a few years back...<p><a href="http://escapepod.org/2007/01/09/ep-flash-printcrime/" rel="nofollow">http://escapepod.org/2007/01/09/ep-flash-printcrime/</a>

While we're on this subject, what's the best DIY printer for an eager beginner like me? Last time I checked, it was Prusa Mendel, but there's been a lot of new additions to the market since then.

Interesting. Is he no longer part of boing boing?

After "printcrime" there will be: "look-crime" where you are caught peeking into or learning about how the insides of a system work on a base level, so you can replicate it without the backdoors, spyware, government mothership authorizations, credentials, alarms, and limitations.<p>Close that vehicle/system lid citizen, there are trade secrets in there, step away, don't make me Taze you.

This is reminiscent of Gnu's "Right to read".<p><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html</a><p>What is the solution if a person uses a printer to print devices that are used for what most people consider criminal behavior? For example, someone printing high performing secret remote detonating bomb materials for political enemy rallies. After they serve the prison sentence. Do you let them own an open source printer again and let them use it without restriction?<p>With the power to print "anything" at low cost comes a tremendous power to kill thousands, even millions of people easily. How do you find the balance between freedom to let people print anything their hearts desire, and restrictions to stop the evil people from using that tremendous power for great evil?