Tuesday, 8 January 2013
3D printer are soon going to be a huge headache for law enforcement agencies. Their ability to allow anyone to create objects cheaply and precisely means that cheap plastic copies of the keys that lock handcuffs are already being circulated. These keys are obviously highly protected, but are usually of the same design so that no one has to track down a particular key when it's needed. A German security worker who only goes by the name "Ray" demonstrated copies of such keys he managed to obtain on his own. These could be distributed cheaply and concealed by criminals who would then later use them to escape. A separate initiative that calls itself the "Wiki Weapon Project" is trying to create a blueprint for a firearm that anyone can duplicate at home using existing 3D printers.
