California’s bill, AB 2047, will not only mandate censorware on all 3D printers; it will also criminalize the use of open-source alternatives. Repeating the mistakes of DRM won’t make anyone safer, but it will hurt innovation in the state and risks a slew of new consumer harms ranging from surveillance to platform lock-in. California must stand with creators and reject this legislation before it’s too late.
Welcome, all of you who are finally coming to the realization that over-regulation is real, and a real problem.
Overregulation and underregulation are both problematic, so it’s not an easy thing to get right. But sometimes you get the impression a regulation is all agenda and very little thought (e.g. this one in California, and the FCC’s recent banning of foreign-made home routers).