I’M VERY DISAPPOINTED IN PHILIP ZIMMERMAN, WHO’S QUOTED IN THIS ARTICLE distinguishing his Pretty Good Privacy encryption program from Cody Wilson’s 3D-gun-printing program:

Zimmermann takes issue with the analogy—on ethical if not legal grounds. This time, he points out, the First Amendment–protected data that was legally treated as a weapon actually is a weapon. “Encryption is a defense technology with humanitarian uses,” Zimmermann says. “Guns are only used for killing.”

That’s objectively false, of course: Guns are used for lots of things. None of my guns has ever been used for killing. And it’s also perilously close to — by which I mean functionally indistinguishable from — the kinds of things people said about PGP: “Only criminals and terrorists need encryption.”

Very disappointing indeed. (Bumped).