Printcrime

I'm a big fan of Cory Doctorow's work, one of his short stories is called "Printcrime" and it's about a future in which desktop 3D printers are illegal.

The coppers smashed my father’s printer when I was eight. I remember the hot, cling-film-in-a-microwave smell of it, and Da’s look of ferocious concentration as he filled it with fresh goop, and the warm, fresh-baked feel of the objects that came out of it.

With real 3D printers dropping in price drastically it's only a matter of time before we all have one. Desktop Factory sells one for $5000, about what high-end laser printers went for four or five years ago and now sell for $1000 (about my buy in point unless I had a business reason). Several companies already offer "3D print on demand"; you send them your CAD file, they send you back your object in the mail. Gamers are signing up in droves to get their personlized online game figurines 3D printed at FigurePrints. This technology brings a personal factory into every home. What's over the horizon? 3D printing metal objects, which currently requires expensive lasers to "Selective Laser Sinter" parts. Another ten years will see that process drop to the same price levels...