A Conversation On 3D Printer Piracy

We were reading an interesting article in The Guardian interviewing Steve Purdham, founder of successful internet jukebox service We7. Purdham spoke of how he believes the Jukebox idea is the ultimate destination of what we know today as "radio". Then suddenly the article says: 

 

In conversation, Purdham veers from the pragmatic to the preposterous. He concedes that making money from digital music is "like climbing Everest", before proposing that a whole new industry will soon be built around 3D printing. "People talk about piracy – they haven't even begun to scratch what piracy is going to be like in the future," he says, perched on the rust-coloured sofa in his north London office. "You design a glass jar or a sculpture, and anybody will be able to print that in their own home. You will be able to print guns. You can already print body parts on a 3D printer. All of these things that Star Trek had are starting to come true."

 

No kidding! When mobile 3D scanning and robust 3D printing become effective, cheap and widespread we're going to see a bad rash of that effect. We wonder how the world will be changed. Will design truly become the leading value over manufacturing? How will copyright holders react? Will the nature of the consumer paradigm fundamentally change? 

 

We don't know. Yet. Someday we will all know the answers to these and other questions, for good or bad. 

 

Via The Guardian

No Fears of Rampant 3D Copy Theft?

We've recently been seeing a torrent (no pun intended) of articles talking about the dangers of 3D print technology for rights owners. The premise is that at some point in the near future we'll see 3D pirates capturing digital 3D models of practically everything in sight, followed by rampant illegal redistribution to 3D freeloaders. Free everything!

 

Could this actually happen? Maybe, but not anytime soon. 

 

Why? There are some really significant barriers to that oft-postulated scenario:

 

• Real objects are often very complicated. They may have multiple moving parts, some hidden from visual inspection and 3D capture. 
• Real objects are often made of multiple materials, many of which are currently not capable of being 3D printed easily, or even being remotely detected. Each material has different mechanical, thermal and chemical properties presumably used to fulfill the object's function.
• Real objects have very precise surfaces and dimensions, not easily captured by 3D scanners. This is particularly true of multi-component objects, where lids, doors or switches must be absolutely precisely sized in order to function or fit together appropriately.
• Many real objects include embedded electronics, which obviously would be impossible to capture, let alone the associated software.

 

We like to think of the current state of 3D piracy as similar to those ancient days when music was poorly copied on crappy analog tapes. The copy was never equivalent to the original. The quality of the copies is simply so poor that there's really nothing to be concerned about. 

 

This may change in the future, but we'd need a world with ultra-precise 3D scanners, capable of rapid object capture - perhaps even with material sensing ability. We'd also need much more capable 3D printers, with the ability to print with a variety of materials that match typical mechanical, thermal and chemical characteristics. Even then you'd still have problems capturing many kinds of objects. 

 

We don't see rampant piracy happening anytime soon, except for the most simple objects. Sure, we might see very limited piracy of limited classes of items, but it won't be as comprehensive as people fear. It may even be true that some objects can never be copied. Therefore, we shouldn't have major concerns about 3D object theft for years. 

 

Via memeburn, ars technica, smartplanet

Image Credit: MarkScottAustinTX

BitTorrenting Real Things

There's a great discussion going on at the Ponoko blog, where Duann posed the question, "What will we do when product design files start hitting these peer to peer networks of sharing. The equivalent of ripping a CD and burning it for a friend?"

We've been contemplating this as well, because it is going to happen. It's probably already happened, as is commonly done today for any digital content: software, photos, movies, music, books are all easily found using various semi-reputable Internet sources. We'll know for certain when The Pirate Bay or MiniNova have separate categories for 3D objects.

We wondered what reaction could counteract this upcoming dilemma, and contrasted against  techniques used in the software world. Would they work?

Software License Keys. When you open software, it refuses to work unless you provide a key that must be purchased. Hmm, most printed objects simply aren't smart at all. Usually they just sit motionless on a desk and have no capability for handling license keys. Nope, that won't work at all.

Encryption. Files are scrambled until unlocked. Well, this could be done, but once unencrypted you kinda have the same issue. Not this one.

Unlocking Fob. Software comes with an actual hardware item that contains a key. The fob must be present or the software won't work. Again, this approach won't work with static 3D objects. Also, software users hated the damn fobs and most software companies have abandoned that approach.

Watermark. Images in particular make use of this technique, and it could actually work. By hiding a "Makermark" somewhere within the 3D model, you might be able to: a) determine if an item has been ripped off, and b) deter some portion of the theft.

You're probably coming to the same conclusion that the software guys are coming to: Digital Rights Management (DRM) simply doesn't work. That's why Apple and the Music Mandarins dropped DRM from the iTunes Music Store. More than likely the same will occur when 3D object designs get popular.
Meanwhile, if we see CAD files appearing en masse in pirate networks, it only means that 3D fabbing has become popular.

Via Ponoko Blog (Hat tip to Duann)

Image Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liako/ / CC BY-SA 2.0