** Cory Doctorow's "Printcrime" (short story, science fiction)

An extreme case of Hollywood's persecution of file sharers. This future world has printers that can print anything (presumably given the description in a file) - an expensive medicine, jewelery, etc. Lobbying of design owners have ensured that these machines are outlawed in this dystopic society.

A man using it illegally is caught & severally punished. When he returns after spending a decade in prison, he is determined to ensure that when he next goes to prison, it's something worthy of imprisonment! He will now be printing these printers themselves, & flooding the society with them.

This sentiment - of unjust punishment for minor crime, & of protagonist's retaliation by actually doing something worthy of punishment, is also found in Larry Niven's "The Jigsaw Man".

See also the fanfic rejoinder to Printcrime - Peter Anderson's "The Copper Responds".

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature Magazine, January 2006.
Rating: B
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Note: Why is this post so short?