• FauxPseudo
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    55
    ·
    14 hours ago

    I’m a handyman. I don’t advertise lock picking as a service I offer due to liability issues. But occasionally a client asked me if I can pick a lock. There have been times where I said okay. This might take between 5 seconds and 30 minutes. And they turn away. And 5 seconds later the lock is picked. Then they start asking all kinds of uncomfortable questions about how they can get better locks.

    When a client moves into a new house I usually include changing all the keying for each lock because you have no idea how many people have a key to that house.

    When I do a straight change out of all the locks in the house I save all of them and put them in my garage workshop. When I’m cleaning my workshop and I find one of these locks I make a point of picking it.

    Never once has any of this resulted in a cute woman (not a girl) being interested in me. Some people have accused me of being a wizard or a boy scout but mostly being able to pick a lock just demonstrates to people how insecure they really are for their safety.

    • Postmortal_Pop
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      7 hours ago

      The first thing I learned when learning to pick locks was that locks are a lie we tell ourselves and nothing we do can stop a sufficiently motivated person from getting into an area. Even if every possible measure is taken, your house is always going to be 5 min with a drill and sawzaw away from having a new door.

      • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        5 hours ago

        Locks keep out opportunists, people who go down the street jiggling handles to try to find an open door. Locks do nothing to keep a motivated person out if they want to get into your stuff specifically.

      • billwashere
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        5 hours ago

        After watching hours and hours of Lock Picking Lawyer I realize that locks are merely a deterrent for honest unskilled people.

      • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        5 hours ago

        CGPGray mentions this in his older video about encryption. Locks are a deterrent, but a motivated person or government forces can bypass relatively easy. The reason it works is because of the personal danger to people trying to break in getting caught. He used it to contrast how digital locks need to be much stronger since they can be “picked” from across the world without any physical danger of being caught or arrested.

        • FauxPseudo
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          3 hours ago

          And maybe one day governments will realize that if they mandate a one size fits all key to encryption they are intentionally breaking that lock and someone will both figure it out and use it against them.

          • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            22 minutes ago

            Yeah, that’s what prompted the video. It was back when US government was demanding an Apple backdoor, and he argued what you said.

      • FauxPseudo
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 hours ago

        Never overestimate how secure a lock is when there is a sandwich of vinyl siding, OSB, insulation and drywall just six inches away.

      • Omgpwnies
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 hours ago

        It’s generally faster to pick a window than a lock… and by pick a window, I mean throw a rock through it.

        • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 hours ago

          This is why I leave my car unlocked and just don’t keep anything valuable in there. I’d rather some prospective thief just open the door, find nothing but some change and a couple pens, and go on with their day instead of having to replace a broken window.