14 yrs in prison for possessing 3d printing gun files

[MachIVshooter]

Yeah, we really don't have much place to judge, this being the US, after all...the recent ITAR proposal puts essentially the same technical information on the ITAR Defense Articles list (and for similar reasons), making it unlawful to post it publicly (on the internet specifically, as of the change) where foreign nationals or domestic folks who haven't been briefed on ITAR requirements (my sig line, obviously facetious, is basically what the 'official' placards read)

ITAR is a huge, worthless steaming pile of bovine excrement, especially considering how many of the regulated items are manufactured in another country. But it does not regulate what you may possess, only what you may export. You could have the blueprints for an ICBM here and be fine, so long as you do not post them online or otherwise make them available to anyone outside the USA.

What they're doing in NSW is absolutely ludicrous. It really is very Orwellian. If that trend continues, information will only be safe to have stored within your head (for now.....)

 

[taliv]

Fahrenheit 451 was one of my favorite books back in high school

 

[Kaeto]

Fahrenheit 451 was one of my favorite books back in high school

And you saw yourself as a fireman who obeyed the orders from on high?

 

[plodder]

Wow, I occasionally travel to Australia and spend time in NSW. I carry this very laptop that contains as favorites all the gun forums (including this one) that I visit and the information shared therein. Some of these include details for firearms that are prohibited in Australia.

Does that put me at risk for arrest and prosecution under this new law?

 

[MachIVshooter]

Wow, I occasionally travel to Australia and spend time in NSW. I carry this very laptop that contains as favorites all the gun forums (including this one) that I visit and the information shared therein. Some of these include details for firearms that are prohibited in Australia.

Does that put me at risk for arrest and prosecution under this new law?

That's one you'd have to talk to an attorney about. You're an American national, but still subject to their laws when in country.

OTOH, you could be found in violation of ITAR here, as anything you have with you when you leave the country is technically being exported....

 

[Radagast]

Hso, yes, designers require a firearms dealers license.

Raubvogel, there are provisions in our laws for warrantless hacking and retention of internet meta data for two years. Again, no warrant is required by the Feds to access it.

Orwell was an optimist.

 

[plodder]

From Radagast:

Orwell was an optimist.

Winner! Mind if I use that one?

 

[dogmush]

Wow, I occasionally travel to Australia and spend time in NSW. I carry this very laptop that contains as favorites all the gun forums (including this one) that I visit and the information shared therein. Some of these include details for firearms that are prohibited in Australia.

Does that put me at risk for arrest and prosecution under this new law?

Like MachIVShooter said you should probably consult an attorney as details make quite a bit of difference.

but, broad strokes; if your laptop ONLY contains browser links to forums with technical data, you are probably OK. You neither have, nor control, the data or the system it is actually on. If, on the other hand, you have files on your computer, any kind of VPN back to a server that you control with data on it, even as little as a password to your email account if you have prohibited data on an e-mail, you are almost certainly breaking this law, and probably American law as well.

As an example, I have a Dropbox account that is set to private, and in it is (among other things) a dimensioned drawing for an AR lower. So that means any time I have internet access, anywhere in the world, I hae access to that drawing. I would want to be pretty careful about where I was when I opened that.

Just as a basic good practices thing, if you cross international boarders with computers with any frequency at all, you should look in to robust data encryption. Many things that are fine here in the states can get you into a lot of hot water overseas.

 

[Rex B]

Here in the US it's called Constructive Possession. If you have instructions and tools to make an illegal weapon, BATF says it's the same as owning the weapon. You can go to prison for it.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Here in the US it's called Constructive Possession. If you have instructions and tools to make an illegal weapon, BATF says it's the same as owning the weapon. You can go to prison for it.

Not true at all. If it were, every guy with a long gun and a hack saw would be a felon, not to mention those of us with mills and lathes.

Constructive possession is having components that cannot be configured into a legal firearm. For example, if you have only a short AR upper and only a rifle lower, then you cannot possibly assemble them into a legal title I firearm, so you risk constructive possession of SBR.

 

[barnbwt]

. You could have the blueprints for an ICBM here and be fine, so long as you do not post them online or otherwise make them available to anyone outside the USA.

"Make available" has a lot of latitude; as in, a server connected to the internet, or even an unsecure civvy machine. It's truly a poorly written and randomly enforced rule, but if State is aware you are generating what they deem defense articles, especially in service to them, a lot of your publishing control is ceded. Can't tell some who isn't briefed on ITAR, it's too likely they will blab to a foriegner; you'd still be liable.

Again, wasn't even an issue for us so long as you weren't exporting physical guns, until now. Time will tell how far they take their language.

TCB

 

[Radagast]

Plodder, go for it.

 

[Radagast]

Further explanation of insanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsGWE_KoWy0

 

[DHJenkins]

Australia doesn't have free speech. Neither does the UK and most other countries that we call "civilized". I thought everyone knew that...