Cody Wilson

Cody Wilson

Wilson in Austin 2012
Born Cody Rutledge Wilson
(1988-01-31) January 31, 1988
Little Rock, Arkansas
Residence Austin, Texas
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Central Arkansas (B.A., 2010)
Occupation Director and spokesman for Defense Distributed
Known for Defense Distributed

Cody Rutledge Wilson (born January 31, 1988) is an American crypto-anarchist,[1][2] free-market anarchist, and gun-rights activist,[3] best known as a founder/director of Defense Distributed, a non-profit organization that develops and publishes open source gun designs, so-called "wiki weapons", suitable for 3D printing.[4][5] He is a co-founder of the Dark Wallet bitcoin storage technology.[6]

Defense Distributed gained international notoriety in 2013 when it published plans online for the Liberator, a functioning pistol that could be reproduced with a 3D printer.[7][8][9] Wilson is regarded as one of America's most influential gun rights advocates, and Wired Magazine's "Danger Room" named him one of "The 15 Most Dangerous People in the World" in 2012.[10][11] In 2015, Wired named Wilson the fifth most dangerous person on the Internet.[12]

Cody Wilson Thomas Jefferson Media File
Defense Distributed Cody Wilsons Ghost Gunner CNC

Early life and education

Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, Wilson was student body president at Cabot High School in Cabot, Arkansas; he graduated in 2006.

Wilson graduated from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) with a bachelor's degree in English in 2010, where he had a scholarship.[13] While at UCA, Wilson was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and was elected president of UCA's Student Government Association. He also traveled to China with UCA's study-abroad program.[14]

He is a former student[15] of the University of Texas School of Law.[11][16]

Career

Defense Distributed

In 2012, Wilson and associates at Defense Distributed initiated the Wiki Weapon Project to raise funds for designing and releasing the files for a 3D printable gun.[17] Wilson is, to date, the only spokesperson on behalf of the organization, of which he describes himself as "co-founder" and "director".[18][19]

Learning of his organization's plans, manufacturer Stratasys threatened legal action and demanded the return of a 3D printer it had leased to Wilson.[18] On September 26, 2012, before the printer was assembled for use, Wilson received an email from Stratasys suggesting he was using the printer "for illegal purposes".[18] Stratasys immediately cancelled its lease with Wilson and sent a team to confiscate the printer the next day.[18][20]

While visiting the ATF enforcement office in Austin to inquire about legalities related to his project, Wilson was subsequently interrogated by the officers there.[18] Six months later, he was issued a Federal Firearms License (FFL) to manufacture and deal.[21]

In May 2013, Wilson successfully test-fired a pistol, called "the Liberator", reportedly made by a Stratasys Dimension series 3D printer bought on eBay.[22] After test firing, Wilson released the blueprints of the gun's design online through Defense Distributed.[23] The State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance then demanded that he remove it, threatening prosecution. They claimed he was violating regulations against the international export of unapproved arms.[24]

On May 6, 2015, Defense Distributed and the gun rights group the Second Amendment Foundation filed a lawsuit against the State Department claiming a violation of their first amendment rights to free speech.[25]

Dark Wallet

In 2013, Wilson, along with Amir Taaki, began work on a Bitcoin wallet called 'Dark Wallet',[15][26][27] a project by which he plans to help anonymize financial transactions. He appeared in support of the 'Dark Wallet' project at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in 2014, speaking to publications such as ReasonTV.[28]

Bitcoin Foundation

On US Election Day, 4 November 2014, Wilson announced in an interview that he would stand for election to a seat on the Board of Directors of the Bitcoin Foundation, with "the sole purpose of destroying the Foundation." And Wilson stated: "I will run on a platform of the complete dissolution of the Bitcoin Foundation and will begin and end every single one of my public statements with that message."[29]

Political and economic views

Wilson claims an array of influences from anti-state and libertarian political thinkers,[30] including leftist market anarchists like the mutualist scholar Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,[22][31] capitalist libertarians such as the Austrian School scholar Hans-Herman Hoppe, and classical liberals including Frederic Bastiat.[3][30] Wilson is against intellectual property rights which is a common view of radical libertarians, but generally seen as foundational within the mainstream libertarian movement. He has also indicated that although his primary goal is the subversion of state-structures he also hopes that his contributions may help to dismantle the existing system of capitalist property relations.[32]

On American gun politics

Asked during an interview with Popular Science if the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting had affected his thinking or plans in any way, Wilson responded:

"... understanding that rights and civil liberties are something that we protect is also understanding that they have consequences that are also protected, or tolerated. The exercise of civil liberties is antithetical to the idea of a completely totalizing state. That's just the way it is."[16]

On subversion and resistance

During a January 2013 interview with Glenn Beck on the nature of and motivations behind his effort to develop and share gun 3D printable files Wilson offered:

"That's a real political act, giving you a magazine, telling you that it will never be taken away. ... That's real politics. That's radical equality. That's what I believe in. ... I'm just resisting. What am I resisting? I don't know, the collectivization of manufacture? The institutionalization of the human psyche? I'm not sure. But I can tell you one thing: this is a symbol of reversibility. They can never eradicate the gun from the earth."[33]

Journalist Brian Doherty of Reason described Wilson as "more than just a gun guy", adding that Wilson may be "right about how it has to end: the people will have the power."[34]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kopstein, Joshua (April 12, 2013). "What happens when 3D printing and crypto-anarchy collide?". The Verge. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ Pangburn, DJ (September 13, 2013). "Whistleblowers and the Crypto-Anarchist Underground: An Interview with Andy Greenberg". Motherboard.tv. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  3. ↑ Doherty, Brian (December 12, 2012). "What 3-D Printing Means for Gun Rights". Reason. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  4. ↑ Brown, Rich (September 7, 2012). "You don't bring a 3D printer to a gun fight - yet". News.yahoo.com. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Exclusive: How Dark Wallet's Cody Wilson hopes to use democracy to undo the Bitcoin Foundation". Upstart Business Journal. 4 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (May 7, 2013). "Meet The 'Liberator': Test-Firing The World's First Fully 3D-Printed Gun". Forbes. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  7. ↑ Morelle, Rebecca (May 6, 2013). "Working gun made with 3D printer". BBC News. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ Hutchinson, Lee (May 3, 2013). "The first entirely 3D-printed handgun is here". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  9. ↑ "30 Influential Pro-Gun Rights Advocates". USACarry.com. May 20, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  10. 1 2 "The 15 Most Dangerous People in the World". Wired. December 19, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  11. ↑ "The Most Dangerous People on the Internet Right Now". Wired. January 1, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  12. ↑ Danny Yadron (1 January 2014). "Cody Wilson Rattled Lawmakers With Plastic Gun, Now on to Bitcoin Transactions - WSJ". WSJ.
  13. ↑ "Document: Cody Wilson: troll, genius, patriot, provocateur, anarchist, attention whore, gun nut or Second Amendment champion?". Cqrcengage.com. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
  14. 1 2 Del Castillo, Michael (September 24, 2013). "Dark Wallet: A Radical Way to Bitcoin". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  15. 1 2 Dillow, Clay (December 21, 2012). "Q+A: Cody Wilson Of The Wiki Weapon Project On The 3-D Printed Future of Firearms". Popular Science. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  16. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (August 23, 2012). "'Wiki Weapon Project' Aims To Create A Gun Anyone Can 3D-Print At Home". Forbes. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Beckhusen, Robert (October 1, 2012). "3-D Printer Company Seizes Machine From Desktop Gunsmith". Wired News. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  18. ↑ Hotz, Alexander (November 25, 2012). "3D 'Wiki Weapon' guns could go into testing by end of year, maker claims". The Guardian. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  19. ↑ Coldewey, Devin (October 2, 2012). "3-D printed gun project derailed by legal woes". NBC News. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  20. ↑ Farivar, Cyrus (March 17, 2013). "3D-printed gun maker now has federal firearms license to manufacture, deal guns". Ars Technica. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  21. 1 2 Rayner, Alex (May 6, 2013). "3D-printable guns are just the start, says Cody Wilson". The Guardian. Retrieved May 6, 2013.
  22. ↑ Brown, Steven Rex (May 13, 2013). "Man who used 3-D printer to create gun hopes efforts can 'destroy the spirit of gun control itself'". Daily News. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  23. ↑ Andy Greenberg (9 May 2013). "State Department Demands Takedown Of 3D-Printable Gun Files For Possible Export Control Violations". Forbes.
  24. ↑ "3-D Printed Gun Lawsuit Starts the War Between Arms Control and Free Speech". WIRED. 6 May 2015.
  25. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (October 31, 2013). "Dark Wallet Aims To Be The Anarchist's Bitcoin App Of Choice". Forbes. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  26. ↑ Feuer, Alan (December 14, 2013). "The Bitcoin Ideology". The New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  27. ↑ "Cody Wilson: Happiness is a 3-D Printed Gun". ReasonTV - Youtube.com. April 18, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
  28. ↑ del Castillo, Michael (November 4, 2014). "Exclusive: Cody Wilson to run for Bitcoin Foundation board, plans its destruction". American City Business Journals. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  29. 1 2 Steele, Chandra (May 9, 2013). "Dismantle the State: Q&A With 3D Gun Printer Cody Wilson". PC Magazine. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  30. ↑ Ostroff, Joshua (March 12, 2013). "'Wiki Weapons' Maker Cody Wilson Says 3D Printed Guns 'Are Going To Be Possible Forever'". Huffington Post. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  31. ↑ "Barack Obama Is A Grocery Clerk! A Fraud And A Salesman Used To Sell You Something On TV". BBC. March 12, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  32. ↑ , January 17, 2013; accessed November 21, 2013
  33. ↑ "3D Guns Advocate Cody Wilson is About More Than Weapons and That's What Most Frightens People About Him". Reason. December 19, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2013.

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