Wired covers the story of Alfred Anaya, a stereo installer and car customizer who built secret compartments into cars. Some people use such compartments to hide legitimate valuables from thieves; others use them to smuggle drugs. As Wired's Brendan I. Koerner explains, dual-use technologies plus federal prosecutorial discretion leave makers like Anaya with a sword hanging over their head. Alfred Anaya Put Secret Compartments in Cars. So the DEA Put Him in Prison:
The challenge for anyone who creates technology is to guess when, exactly, they should turn their back on paying customers. Take, for example, a manufacturer of robot kits for hobbyists. If someone uses those robots to patrol a smuggling route or help protect a meth lab so that traffickers can better evade law enforcement, how will prosecutors determine whether the company acted criminally? If it accepted payment in crumpled $20 bills and thus should have known it was dealing with gangsters? If the customer picked up the merchandise in an overly flashy car? The law offers scant guidance, but prosecutors have tremendous leeway to pursue conspiracy charges whenever they see fit. And as 3-D printers enable the unfettered production of sophisticated objects, those prosecutors will be tempted to make examples out of people who are careless about their clients.