- Police are now tracking ghost guns identifying brands of microscopic tools left by 3D printer hardware
- Thingiverse is using automation to block the loading of dangerous weapons files
- Legislators want 3D printer manufacturers to build AI tools that block the impression of firearms
The rapid propagation of 3D printed weapons templates is causing police scrutiny and legislators, since regulators begin to deal with the involuntary consequences of accessible digital manufacturing.
The Popular Thingiverse platform, known as the largest repository in the world of 3D printer model archives, has now become a central approach to the efforts to stop the spread of ghost weapons.
After an investigation by the New York Police Department, hundreds of files related to downloadable weapons in Thingiverse, files that, once downloaded, can be used by almost any person with a 3D printer to make pieces of firearms that work.
Fold in file exchange platforms
In response, Thingiverse has added automated tools designed to detect and block load file loads before they are live on the site.
This is an urgent problem within the 3D printing communities, and measure that the platforms grow, the management of harmful or illegal content becomes much more difficult.
Access to dangerous plans is difficult to control, especially when file sites operate with little supervision, and together with changes on the platform, officials are now resorting to hardware manufacturers.
Manhattan district prosecutor Alvin Bragg, has asked companies such as Bambu Lab to create AI systems that can scan CAD files before printing.
The objective is to train models to detect weapons and stop them in the printer itself.
Law application agencies are working to build obstacles that hinder the creation of non -traceable firearms.
Beyond prevention, researchers are also exploring ways of tracking printed weapons to their source.
Researchers are studying tools brands that remain in print objects: small patterns made by the unique configuration of a printer, the shape of the nozzle and the filament route.
It is possible that these brands do not match an exact printer, but they can help reduce a gun.
Factors such as extrusion size, print temperature and bed surface affect these brands, which makes the tracking more complex.
Even so, this type of forensic labor shows that printed weapons are not as anonymous as many believed.
Either made in a high -end 3D recorder or in a cheap desktop unit, printed objects can carry clues that link them to certain machines.
With ghost guns now easier to make than ever, the race between access and control is clearly underway, and the result is still unknown.
Via Tomshardware
