Kim Dotcom gets mega-scared of 3D printed guns, pulls plans from site

Printed Liberator gun fired
In Kim Dotcom's sights: the Liberator printed gun

The US government pulled the plans for Defense Distributed's 3D printed gun after two days, but not before it was downloaded 100,000 times.

It took Kim Dotcom, founder of online file sharing service Mega, a little bit longer, but the internet mogul has deleted all public links to the weapon's blueprints.

Dotcom, who is fighting the US government's attempts to extradite him from his mansion home in New Zealand to face piracy charges, told Radio New Zealand that the possibilities of the weapon were scary.

"I think it's a serious threat to security of the community. I think it's scary that people can print 3D guns that can't even be detected by metal detectors ... This should concern everybody," he said.

But despite Dotcom's direct intervention on public links to the gun's blueprints, the Mega site still hosts privately stored versions of the Blueprints online, according to Radio NZ.

Additionally, the instructions have been uploaded to sites like The Pirate Bay multiple times.

While the US government is currently investigating whether Defense Distributed broke international arms-control laws by posting the blueprints online, the end result is that there's no way to get those blueprints back into Pandora's Box again now.

With 3D printing set to revolutionise everything from manufacturing to medicine, the release of printed weaponry can't be considered unexpected, even if it will kill us all.

Via: Radio NZ

Having spent the past decade editing some of Australia's leading technology publications, Nick's passion for the latest gadgetry is matched only by his love of watching Australia beat England in the rugby.