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.
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).