Case Study: Fighting dirty for a good cause
When 3D printing went mainstream, the world marvelled at the amazing things it could be used for. From the small stuff; models and decorative items to the big stuff; cars and even prosthetic limbs. But whilst 3D printed prostheticscan change lives, commercial software and online blueprints mean you could print something that can end them too - a fully functioning semi-automatic weapon.
In 2019, TBWA\Paris teamed up with leading European 3D printing company DAGOMA to tackle the problem and use their own software to take the fight back. D&AD caught up with the team behind the Pencil winning work to find out how the project came about.
The problem
Back in 2013, online blueprints for 3D printed guns were released online by Second Amendment activists. These guns were relatively cheap to make, had no serial numbers, required no background checks and being made of plastic, could slip through metal detectors.
They were taken down by the Defense Department but were made public again in 2017 after a lawsuit. These were then downloaded over 20,000 times, putting tens of thousands of unregistered weapons into potentially dangerous hands.
The idea
The team at TBWA Paris had seen an article in the French press about Cody Wilson, the creator of the first 100% 3D printable gun - the Liberator. It spoke about the ramifications of technology like this in the wrong hands and how easy it would be to spread this new kind of weapon all over the world. Nothing was being done to stop it, so they approached DAGOMA’s co-founders Matthieu and Gauthier with an idea, who were very excited.
“Printing a part is a very long process”, explained Swann Richard and François Claux, the creative team behind the project. “For example, one single part can take 17 hours to print. So, you don’t want to try ten blueprints looking for one good one. You’re just going to be fed up when you get to the end of the lengthy printing process and end up with something that doesn’t work”.
So they set out to make it more challenging to get the right blueprints. The thinking was if they flooded the internet with corrupt blueprints, it would deter people. Why waste time and money on materials printing guns that don’t work?
Harmless Guns – TBWA\Paris and Dagoma replace 3D-printed firearms with toy designs, 2019
Faking the files
Popular blueprint files were downloaded and edited, but only slightly. “To modify the parts, we worked with specialists that knew about 3D design and about 3D printing”. They created gun barrels with a diameter too small for bullets, designed parts that no longer fitted together and built pins that didn’t reach long enough to fire. “All the changes made to each component’s weight and appearance are imperceptible to the naked eye”.
“The biggest challenge was to make sure our modified files would never work. So, it was essential to make a lot of micro transformations on every part of the weapons. For example, one single part can have 15 invisible modifications, so even if someone fixed one, the weapon still wouldn’t work”.
Spreading the fakes
Once the changes had been made, they were then re-distributed online with identical file names, in all the places the originals were found. Hundreds of guns, now rendered useless were placed on forums, websites and 3D model platforms.
Working with hackers and social media specialists, they used a VPN to hide their location and then got to work. Posing as gun enthusiasts, they then promoted the corrupted prints so as to discredit the real ones.
Realistically with the dark web and so many forums, there’ll always be a way to print guns, so “that’s why we developed open-source software that blocks weapons files named “Cura by Dagoma”. This file detector software will recognise and prevent firearms from being manufactured on their printers.
Harmless Guns – TBWA\Paris and Dagoma replace 3D-printed firearms with toy designs, 2019
Results
The nature of the campaign means that it’s grown legs and spread rapidly of its own accord. All the team needed to do was just set the wheels in motion and take a step back as their mutant files spread - so far having been downloaded over 13,000 times.
Dagoma is now working with the French police force, showing how these 3D printed guns can be identified and how they spread. Armed with this information, they’ll now know what to look for and where.
Using creativity, innovation and design as a force for good, Harmless Guns has disarmed thousands of gun enthusiasts by tackling a real-world problem right at the root.
Harmless Guns – TBWA\Paris and Dagoma replace 3D-printed firearms with toy designs, 2019
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