[Ground-station] Defense Distributed case

[Bruce Perens]

I don't know the Defense Distributed folks and am the wrong person to talk
with them, given my public record. I'm actually a pretty good shot on the
range, but that's separate from policy issues.

We would like to see the text of the settlement. It may be that this is
sealed, in which case we would be interested in pursuing an FOIA, and we'd
hardly be the only ones.

A verdict is much better precedent than a settlement, which is probably *why
*the government settled. However this is a settlement with the federal
government rather than a private party, and thus is going to have some
precedential value.

I don't have other interesting cases on ITAR at the moment, you can be sure
I'll bring them up as they happen.

    Thanks

    Bruce

On Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 11:38 AM, Michelle Thompson <
mountain.michelle at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you for sharing this.
>
> The backstory for 3D printing controlled objects, the engineering odyssey,
> the legal assumptions, and the culture war issues with the maker scene can
> be read about (for anyone interested) in the book Come and Take It by Cody
> Wilson. Cody founded Defense Distributed.
>
> As an avid 3d printer and heavily invested in communications that often
> intersect with ITAR controlled areas, I've been following this case with
> interest.
>
> The reinforcement of ORI's interpretation of the current legal landscape
> would seem to be a very positive development.
>
> I get a lot of questions from people that have a lot of fear about
> volunteering with us, or have been told they can't volunteer with us, or
> shouldn't volunteer with us, or that our open source demonstrations are
> somehow illegal. Fighting back against the parts that are total nonsense
> takes a lot of time and energy. It's worth it, but it comes at a cost. That
> cost is progress and participation in other much more enjoyable areas.
>
> Anything that helps enable volunteers to have fun, learn cutting edge
> technology, and contribute in meaningful ways is what I'm here to establish
> and maintain.
>
> Are there any other legal proceedings in this particular ecosystem
> (ITAR/open source) in progress, that affect us, that you know of?
>
> -Michelle W5NYV
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 10, 2018 at 2:53 PM, Ground-Station <ground-station at lists.
> openresearch.institute> wrote:
>
>> The Defense Distributed case, in which the government attempted to assert
>> ITAR upon a distributor of models for making firearms in a 3D printer, has
>> settled. The government seems to have lost pretty thoroughly.
>> http://joshblackman.com/blog/2018/07/10/doj-second-amendment-foundation-
>> reach-settlement-in-defense-distributed-lawsuit/
>>
>> ORI position is:
>> 1. We do not take a position on second amendment issues, it's
>> out-of-scope for our organization.
>> 2. The ITAR part of the case seems to be aligned with our previous
>> interpretation of the issues of ITAR and Open Source, and our previously
>> developed strategy. The case will probably work as a favorable precedent.
>>
>>     Thanks
>>
>>     Bruce
>>
>> --
>> Bruce Perens K6BP - CEO, Legal Engineering
>> Standards committee chair, license review committee member, co-founder,
>> Open Source Initiative
>> President, Open Research Institute; Board Member, Fashion Freedom
>> Initiative.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ground-Station mailing list
>> Ground-Station at lists.openresearch.institute
>> http://lists.openresearch.institute/mailman/listinfo/ground-station
>>
>>
>


-- 
Bruce Perens K6BP - CEO, Legal Engineering
Standards committee chair, license review committee member, co-founder,
Open Source Initiative
President, Open Research Institute; Board Member, Fashion Freedom
Initiative.
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