The politics of creating a 3D printing encryption app
When researcher and artist Matthew Plummer-Fernandez created an app that would distort and encrypt 3D printing files beyond recognition, he did not anticipate the reaction it would get.
"For me it was really tongue in cheek, but people took it really seriously," he told the audience at the Story Festival in London this weekend. The encryption app was created in reaction to a series of events that were taking place as the worlds of piracy, mass surveillance and 3D printing were colliding, he explains.
It all started off with the creation of 3D printed gun files that were circulated online and caused fear and speculation among law enforcement officials around the world. Then came the copyright legislation issues, which saw 3D printing files start to be hosted on file-sharing sites like the Pirate Bay. Finally came the Snowden revelations that brought to the fore issues around encrypting communications.
