3D printing is a massively disruptive technology. Sure, one can print a gun with this technology but one can build a gun if one really wants to from materials at a hardware store. “Zip guns” which are made from everyday industrial materials have been around since the gun was invented. But there is a much bigger issue in play here.
Government representatives from around the world gathered last week in Dubai to chart the future course of the Internet. They voted to kill it as we now know it.
CISPA (the “cyber security bill” currently being kicked around Congress) is a dangerous piece of legislation. Like SOPA before it, which was defeated by the sheer deluge of opposition from the public, it seeks to hand ultimate control over important parts of the Internet to the federal government and would also allow the government to monitor whatever communication over the Internet that it wishes without a warrant or judicial oversight.
Xerox, master of the copier, leader of post-World War II IT, largely invented the Internet as the attached article points out.
(From WSJ.com)
But full credit goes to the company where Mr. Taylor worked after leaving ARPA: Xerox. It was at the Xerox PARC labs in Silicon Valley in the 1970s that the Ethernet was developed to link different computer networks. Researchers there also developed the first personal computer (the Xerox Alto) and the graphical user interface that still drives computer usage today.
As I have written before the government is unlikely to stop seeking complete control over the Internet. SOPA and PIPA were stopped by people power. Now the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is moving through Congress and it will take individuals coming together again to defeat this new power grab.
The bill is broadly written and gives the government extensive power over private information online. The Electronic Frontier Foundation explains in detail what the Act will allow government to do.
“Under CISPA, private companies may spy on user communications, whether stored or in transit, and freely pass personal information to the government as long as they claim a vague ‘cybersecurity’ exception.”
And Ron Paul has sent out a call to his followers to strongly consider getting onboard with the #StopCISPA effort. He rightly fears that corporations, compelled by the government, under CISPA will become information agents for the state.
I think he’s right to fear this. Though I’ll bet that corporations likely don’t want to become government agents, if the force of law is brought to bear they will have to comply.
“This bill represents a radical violation of privacy and opens the door to rampant Fourth Amendment violations,” says Daniel Leuck, chief executive of Honolulu-based software design boutique Ikayzo, who submitted testimony opposing the bill. He adds: “Even forcing telephone companies to record everyone’s conversations, which is unthinkable, would be less of an intrusion.”
For all the non tech nerds out there who may not be familiar with the SOPA bill, it is a piece of legislation currently working its way through the House of Representatives which its proponents say will help curb “rampant” online piracy of copyrighted materials.
