The web domain for Defense Distributed was recently seized, and a notice was placed on the home page stating that individuals involved with the website are being indicted under a grand jury investigation for violating various gun control and intellectual property regulations.

Cody-Wilson-Defense-Distributed-Wiki-Weapon-3-d-printed-gun (Copy)

Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed

Update: some sources are now suggesting that this is an elaborate April fools joke.  See Copblock and Lew Rockwell.

By JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
April 1, 2013

Just a few minutes ago i was doing some research about the progress of 3D printed firearms, and followed a link to the homepage for Defense Distributed, the company that is pioneering the world of 3d printing, specifically guns and ammunition.

I was very disappointed to see the all too familiar federal domain seizure greeting, informing me that not only had the domain been seized, but that individuals involved with the project were being indicted as well.

Screenshot:

defensedistributed.com seized by feds

defensedistributed.com seized by feds

If you try to visit the domain yourself you will see the same message until they are able to get it back, or in the off chance that this is just some tasteless April fools joke, you will see it return to normal tomorrow.  I really hope that this is the case, but i really don’t believe that they would joke like this, and the notice on the home page seems authentic.

Just days ago Cody Wilson, the founder of the project, was getting unprecedented media coverage and had even announced that they will have a totally printable gun ready in a few months.

The charges listed on the homepage are very telling.  Many people have been curious as to how the government was going to come down on this sort of disruptive technology, and it looks as if this is the route they are going to take.  I cannot confirm this, but there is not a doubt in my mind that the charge of “money laundering” is in reference to the companies heavy promotion and acceptance of Bitcoin, the unregulated crypto-currency.

The copyright charges also have interesting implications for Cody Wilson’s other project, DEFCAD.  Last month Wilson announced the launch of a new company that will work like The Pirate Bay, but for 3D printable designs and templates for workable objects.  This would essentially allow anyone with a 3d printer to “print out” any object they desired, including cars and houses, in the same manner as a Star Trek replicator.

The website for this project states that:

Laws were changed and political parties founded over Napster, Bittorrent, and The Pirate Bay…over music and movies. But with 3D printed firearms, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, drones, and medical devices, the stakes will suddenly get much higher. Because 3DP is not about reviving manufacturing jobs or competing with assembly lines on cost. It is not about disrupting manufacturing. It is about disrupting copyright, IP, and regulation. It is about printing items whose prices have been set to infinity. It is about disrupting man-made forms of artificial scarcity. It is about DEFCAD.

Politicians always want new regulations, patent lawyers always want to sue, and presidents want to feel important. But the mechanisms by which they impose their will are centralized structures dating from a centralized century. Once it’s not a few dozen manufacturers under the thumb of the state but tens of millions of decentralized acts of civil disobedience — a patient printing artificially expensive pharmaceuticals, a South Asian woman printing to defend herself — there won’t be enough jail cells in the land to hold all the thoughtcriminals.

FUND THE PROJECT HERE IF YOU HAVE THE MEANS TO DO SO

The following video is truly inspiring:

So far i have been unable to find an official statement from Cody Wilson or anyone else involved with the project about what is happening with the charges or the domain seizure, and i am not sure how long ago this domain seizure occurred.

DEFCAD.com remains operational…for now.

If anyone has any information about this situation please send an email to vibes@intellihub.com

******

Read more articles by this author HERE.

J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter-culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance, a staff writer, reporter for Intellihub.com and Executive Producer of the Bob Tuskin Radio Show. You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books & free audiobooks at his website www.aotmr.com