Wanted: examples of ILLEGAL use of 3D printing, Open Hardware and other Digital DIY
No, this is NOT about 3D printed weapons (though we do study those too, together with other ethics issues!). Nor is it about copyright and other "Intellectual Property" violations made possible by Digital DIY (which we also study, as in this example. This is something else, namely a part of:
- our current study of support and awareness (or lack thereof) of Digital DIY throughout Europe
- and that of obstacles to Digital DIY by artisans, farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises in general, as we already explained in this interview
In practice, we are looking for specific examples, from all european countries, of things that people and businesses may do, with objects manufactured with 3D printing or other Digital DIY techniques, that are:
- not legal
- or not compliant with some regulations (insurance, safety, privacy)
- any combination of the above
- or.. in a legislative vacuum
exactly because those things were manufactured in "Digital DIY" fashion. For example:
- Can Fablabs in your country legally manufacture something on demand, for money, to whoever walks into them with the designs for some object?
- Can a farmer in your country legally build and operate the Open Source tractor from OpenSourceEcology.org? No? And if yes, under which conditions? Having it tested and certified somewhere? How?
- What if a restaurant owner designs the chairs for his restaurant with SketchChair, has them manufactured at the closest Fablab, and one of his patrons gets hurt when one of those chairs break? Do local insurance regulations prohibit or void insurance for that, exactly because the chairs were not a traditional industrial product, traditionally tested? What about responsibility? Who should pay the medical bills, according to local laws? The restaurant owner? The fablab manager? SketchChair? All of them?
- Same as above, for a dentist making some of his tools by himself...
- What other cases did we forget? Please let us know!
We look forward to collect all this information, which will all be published in one of our report, with an Open License. Please use this form to send it, pass this request around, and thanks in advance for your help!
Final (partially) unrelated request: please participate to, and/or share, this survey on Digital DIY in Agriculture and Crafts. Thanks!
(image from Wikimedia Commons)
