As much as we love 3D printing, there's no denying the dangerous potential that comes with something like a modern 3D printer. Creating a weapon is as easy as loading a print file in your print queue, which is why big companies like Thingiverse have taken action to make the file acquisition process as hard as possible on their part. According to ABC, Thingiverse is now implementing a new strategy to stop users from uploading things like gun-related files before they're openly distributed on the platform.
This effort comes in response to an investigation handled by the New York Police Department (NYPD). The NYPD came across hundreds of weapon-related files on Thingiverse that could be downloaded by users and presumably 3D printed. Thingiverse is one of the largest websites for downloading 3D printable model files. ABC argues its rapid growth and subsequent jump in scale made it harder for the team to regulate these types of files.
