Mr. Wilson (Photo: Wikipedia)

Defense Distributed, the Texas-based nonprofit that wants to empower people to 3D print their own guns, has hit a bit of a legal snag. According to founder Cody Wilson, DEFCAD, the open source weapon-printing project powered by Defense Distributed, received a letter (embedded below) from the State Department's Office of Defense Trade Compliance, telling him to remove the blueprints of the Liberator, his 3D printed gun, from the web so that they may be reviewed by the department.

The group's website currently has a red banner appended to the top that reads, "DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls.  Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."

"We got an official letter from the Secretary of State, telling me who they were, what their authority was under U.S. law and telling me they want to review these files to see if they’re class one munitions," Mr. Wilson told Betabeat by phone. "That includes blueprints."

In the letter, embedded below, the State Department says that Defense Distributed may have released data that is controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulation without getting prior authorization. This would put the company's actions in conflict with--oh boy--the Arms Export Control Act.

"Please note that disclosing (including oral or visual disclosure) or transferring technical data to a foreign person, whether in the United States or abroad, is considered an export," reads the letter. It also says that until Defense Distributed has received the legal all-clear, the company "should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled. This means that all such data should be removed from public access immediately."

Mr. Wilson believes that he is immune to the Department of State's review procedures as Defense Distributed is a nonprofit and the blueprints are protected under the public domain.

"I immediately complied and I've taken down the files," Mr. Wilson said. "But this is a much bigger deal than guns. It has implications for the freedom of the web."

Of course, since this is the Internet, the files are already all over the web, even though Mr. Wilson complied with the takedown.

"I still think we win in the end," he added. "Because the files are all over the Internet, the Pirate Bay has it--to think this can be stopped in any meaningful way is to misunderstand what the future of distributive technologies is about."

Letter from Department of State to Defense Distributed

(Photo: Instagram, @pinkla16)

Thanksgiving beat out Hurricane Sandy as the most-Instagrammed event ever, solidifying the photo platform as more of a Path-type social network than the future of citizen journalism. [PandoDaily]

The Wiki Weapon Project could be testing its 3D printed guns by end of year. [The Guardian]

Courts continue to wrangle over the legality of collecting texts and data from cell phones to use as evidence. [The New York Times]

Facebook has finally admitted it will soon share the data it collects from your profile with external websites and ad networks. [GigaOm]

Can the Wii U save Nintendo? [The New York Times]

Mr. Wilson (Photo: Twtrland.com)

A couple of weeks ago we told you about the Wiki Weapon Project, the brainchild of a group called Defense Distributed that was initially raising money on Indiegogo to develop open source blueprints for a 3D-printable gun. Indiegogo suspended the campaign and refunded all the backers, but never gave an explicit reason for doing so.

"I put in the basic appeal with Indiegogo once they sent me the email that all of our funds were being refunded to contributors," Cody Wilson, a student at the University of Texas School of Law and cofounder of Defense Distributed, told Betabeat by email. "I got a thank you and a help ticket, but no word back. Basically TOS violation is the reason I think they're sticking with."

Betabeat reached out to Indiegogo at the time, but still hasn't heard back. It does seem that the Wiki Weapon project violates at least one term, though it gets a little definitionally murky:

You may not use the Service for activities that:

(h) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories

But the fundraising setback has not deterred Defense Distributed. Mr. Wilson said that in the days since Indiegogo canceled the campaign, "Wiki Weapon project has received $12k, as well as the promise from one angel investor to match all contributions received above $10k dollar to dollar. There are some big offers potentially coming down in the week upcoming as well. We've begun prototyping as well."

We asked Mr. Wilson--who claims he is working towards "realizing a private law society"-- to name the investor, but he played coy: "I can't name the investor! They wish to maintain some anonymity :) Let's call them an inventor." Hmm, too bad Nikola Tesla is long gone.

Despite getting kicked off of Indiegogo's platform, the Wiki Weapon project has been collecting money through its donate page. Mr. Wilson said that 90 percent of donations collected to date have come via PayPal or Bitcoin. The team is over halfway funded, with just $8,000 more to raise before reaching its $20,000 goal.

The Wiki Weapon Project is a rather terrifying prospect; while it might seem downright pornographic to libertarians and gun-toting Tea Party patriots, it raises some uncomfortable questions about the implications of certain technologies. Would a fire arm printed using a 3D printer require a license to make or operate? Could it undercut gun control laws? And given the spate of mass shootings recently, could 3D printed guns serve to exacerbate gun violence?

Mr. Wilson says he and the team are already heading off these concerns. "We consulted with a pretty prominent firm in Richmond, VA early on," he told Betabeat. "The legalities actually involve a broad range of issues, from future products liability issues, ip export problems, and then your basic statutes like the undetectable firearms act. But no, our research and counsel suggest we do not need licensing to print the firearms unless they would be considered class II weapons (autos, etc.). Our main concern is detectability, so when we print we're adding x-ray signature blocks."

"Given mass shootings, I'm not concerned about the marginal increase to access this technology initially represents," he added. "As of this morning, I'm not sure ABS or other composites will even yield something safe enough for people to adopt. The topic is worthy of serious discussion, but at least in the US, cheaper and much more reliable firearms are far easier to get your hands on."

For the trigger happy, a 3D-printed gun is still a fevered pipe dream; for others, it might better resemble a budding nightmare.

We've reached out again to Indiegogo for comment, and will update when we here more.

(Photo: Indiegogo)

Though Indiegogo has largely been the go-to campaign site for non-artistic endeavors and bullied bus monitors, it turns out that there actually are some projects that the site will not allow. Forbes reports that a group of 20-somethings called Defense Distributed collaborated on a campaign called the Wiki Weapon Project to develop open source blueprints for a gun that can be made with a 3D printer.

According to the Indiegogo campaign, accessible now only through Google cache:

The WikiWep project is to produce a CAD file for distribution and sharing across the internet. This CAD file will be a schematic for a modest, 3D printable plastic firearm. In a world where 3D printing becomes more ubiquitous and economical, defense systems and opposition to tyranny may be but a click away... Let's pull the world toward this future together.