James G. Sack (jim) wrote:
I'll be looking forward to RS's commentary on this.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/medeco-locks-cr.html
The above was found from /. How can one resist reading any article with
"Shrinky Dinks" in the headline?
I may be wrong, but I believe this may actually work, to a degree.
Although I'm a little reluctant to believe that the plastic will be
thick enough to get the correct rotation of the Medeco pins (as
described decently in the article). Medeco pins have to be the correct
height _and_ rotation before the lock can turn.
Credit card type plastic (probably nylon actually) has already been used
for spare door keys made by AAA for many years now. The plastic keys
were never meant to be used in the ignition (not even once), and even in
the doors, were only meant to be used 2 or 3 times at the most. But
I've made some decent money digging that plastic out of ignitions and
doors. Even _knowing_ they aren't supposed to stick it into the
ignition, people still do. And even _knowing_ they shouldn't even use
it in the doors more than 2 or 3 times, they still do. They don't
expect it to get stuck and break off, but it does.
Security is such that if there _is_ a break-in, it's better to know that
it happened. A plastic key is *much* more likely to break off inside
the lock, which would quickly give you away (the next time someone tries
to stick their key in). I know how to minimize that risk, but even most
locksmiths have probably never thought about it.
This would be a way around apartment house charges of $50 for a spare
key for the main entrance or the pool, but will end up just being extra
costly for management when they have to pay locksmiths to remove the
broken plastic. And they'll have virtually no way of knowing who was
responsible, short of witnesses.
As I began reading the article, I was thinking that it would actually
have a decent chance of working in the Medeco locks I've dealt with, but
I was certain it would not work in Assa or Schlage Primus because of
side milling (which the article eventually mentions around the middle),
nor even Schlage Everest. I'm not familiar with many other high
security locks.
I must admit, if I ever come across a customer who has a broken Medeco
key (not a mere foto) and is paying me to get him in, I might consider
creating a duplicate (for one-time use only) from an old credit card (or
hotel room key). But I've never had such a situation before, so I doubt
the likelihood of ever encountering it.
--
Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views
humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. By
encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of
so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with
racial group identity is inherently racist. We should understand that
racism will endure until we stop thinking in terms of groups and begin
thinking in terms of individual liberty.
--Congressman Ron Paul 2007-04-18
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