This article was taken from the March 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Emails can be encrypted to frustrate the spooks -- but what about your 3D-printed creations? Disarming Corruptor is free software that scrambles STL files (used for 3D printing) to create a glitched version of the object, which can then be reassembled and shared with a key code. So, if you're sharing plans for a 3D-printed weapon and GCHQ calls, the agency will only see a mangled version of the file.
Developed by Matthew Plummer-Fernandez of Goldsmiths University of London, Disarming Corruptor also helps you bypass copyright. Some companies -- hi, Disney -- issue takedown notices to the most innocuous of mash-ups. Plummer-Fernandez 3D-scans and mixes other people's toys, which presents problems: "i.materialise stopped printing my objects and Makerbot issued a censorship of objects on Thingiverse."
Plummer-Fernandez, 31, insists his software is neutral, despite its lawless appeal. "You can use it as a get-out-of-jail-free card -- you're not collecting illegal objects, you're collecting distorted files."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
