Agorism

Agorism’s Tech Triumvirate

"Both Bitcoin and Bitmessage rely on Internet access to function, and despite valiant efforts by supporters to create ad-hoc networks for protesters, it's still often within the State's power to prevent reliable access to many. The third emerging technology relevant here is Meshnet. Meshnet is a free and open-source project that aims to provide robust network access in the face of deliberate attempts by 'authorities' to restrict Internet access and censor online speech. Meshnet works by dynamically creating networks of wireless routers. Each router becomes a node in the network, relaying connectivity to other routers in its physical vicinity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAgorism’s Tech Triumvirate

Der Spiegel Laments The Rapid Spread of Printable Pistols

"A student from Texas has invented a plastic pistol that anyone can make with a 3-D printer. It is undetectable by metal detectors and capable of killing. And it is spreading unchecked across the continents. A few days after Cody Wilson's invention had been created, the United States Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to the rest of the world. The officials, responsible for fending off terrorist attacks, wrote three pages about the dangers of a weapon against which they are powerless. They wrote that public safety is threatened. They also wrote that, unfortunately, it is impossible to prevent this weapon from being made." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDer Spiegel Laments The Rapid Spread of Printable Pistols

Burner Phone – A Simple and Anonymous Disposable Cell Phone

"Our Burner Kit is the simplest, most secure, and most affordable pre-paid cell phone kit in the US. The Burner Kit comes with a quality disposable cell phone, in addition to unlimited voice and SMS messaging for 30 days. After 30 days, just throw away your Burner Kit and you'll never have to worry about compromising your identity. We take your privacy seriously. You can purchase your Burner Kit using Credit or Debit card or Bitcoin (an anonymous digital crypto currency). Every time you make a purchase we'll package and ship your order, then destroy all transaction records in our system. We make it impossible to give or share your information with anyone." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBurner Phone – A Simple and Anonymous Disposable Cell Phone

Next Generation 3-D Printed Gun Fires Nine Shots, Costs $25

"One evening late last week, a Wisconsin engineer who calls himself 'Joe' test-fired a new version of that handgun printed on a $1,725 Lulzbot A0-101 consumer-grade 3D printer, far cheaper than the one used by Defense Distributed. Joe, who asked that I not reveal his full name, loaded the weapon with .380 caliber rounds and fired it nine times, using a string to pull its trigger for safety. The weapon survived all nine shots over the course of an evening, as you can see in the YouTube video below." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNext Generation 3-D Printed Gun Fires Nine Shots, Costs $25

3D printed guns are going to create big legal precedents

"Defense Distributed is headed for some important, possibly precedent-setting legal battles with the US government, and I’m worried that the fact that we’re talking about guns here will cloud judges’ minds. Bad cases made bad law, and it’s hard to think of a more emotionally overheated subject area. So while I’d love to see a court evaluate whether the internet should be treated as a library in law, I’m worried that when it comes to guns, the judge may find himself framing the question in terms of whether a gun foundry should be treated as a library." Continue reading →

Continue Reading3D printed guns are going to create big legal precedents

3D printed guns are going to create big legal precedents

"Defense Distributed is headed for some important, possibly precedent-setting legal battles with the US government, and I’m worried that the fact that we’re talking about guns here will cloud judges’ minds. Bad cases made bad law, and it’s hard to think of a more emotionally overheated subject area. So while I’d love to see a court evaluate whether the internet should be treated as a library in law, I’m worried that when it comes to guns, the judge may find himself framing the question in terms of whether a gun foundry should be treated as a library." Continue reading →

Continue Reading3D printed guns are going to create big legal precedents

U.S. Government vs. DEFCAD 3D Printable Gun: You Can’t Fix Stupid

"They’re like the Society Matron who walks into the dining hall in a Three Stooges short and demands 'What is the meaning of this?!!' To them the Internet is just a big Series of Tubes, and all they have to do is shut off a valve somewhere to control the flow of information. Only the Internet doesn’t work that way. In John Gilmore's phrasing, it treats censorship as damage and routes around it. Their legal rationale — export control legislation — displays the same conceptual failure. They couldn’t quite grasp that the 'goods' that DEFCAD was 'exporting' arrived in their destination ports around the world the second the files were uploaded to the website." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Government vs. DEFCAD 3D Printable Gun: You Can’t Fix Stupid

3D-Printed Gun’s Blueprints Downloaded 100,000 Times In Two Days (With Some Help From Kim Dotcom)

"That’s the number of downloads of the 3D-printable file for the so-called 'Liberator' gun that the high-tech gunsmithing group Defense Distributed has seen in just the last two days, a member of the group tells me. The gun’s CAD files have been ten times more popular than any component the group has previously made available, parts that have included the body of an AR-15 and the magazine for an AK-47. 'This has definitely been our most well-received download,' says Haroon Khalid, a developer working with Defense Distributed. 'I don’t think any of us predicted it would be this much.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading3D-Printed Gun’s Blueprints Downloaded 100,000 Times In Two Days (With Some Help From Kim Dotcom)

A Push for a Bitcoin Buttonwood

"Amid the incense, cheap art and herbal remedies for sale in Union Square in Manhattan on Monday, a very different kind of product was changing hands: bitcoins. Just feet from the park’s statue of George Washington, a crowd of young men gathered on Monday afternoon to buy and sell the digital, crypto-currency. The men – and there were only men – were brought together by an online posting from Josh Rossi, 31, a bitcoin aficionado who works in technology at the World Trade Financial Group. He had proposed what he called Project Buttonwood, a reference to the where the New York Stock Exchange had its beginning in 1792." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Push for a Bitcoin Buttonwood

3-D-printed gun available for download after firing first shots

"The nonprofit group that created the world’s first 3-D-printed gun on Sunday proved that the weapon could be fired. In a YouTube video published by Defense Distributed, 3-D-printed gun creator Cody Wilson fires a single shot from 'the Liberator,' which features interchangeable barrels to handle different caliber bullets. On the first attempt, the pistol showed no damage after firing a single standard .380 round. A second attempt misfired due to a misalignment. A Computer-aided design (CAD) file that would allow others with 3-D printers to create their own handguns was made available for free on Monday." Continue reading →

Continue Reading3-D-printed gun available for download after firing first shots