Thursday, October 18, 2012

Skeleton Keys

Wouldn't it be really scary if physical locks in large planned cities like NYC were designed to use skeleton keys-- master keys that are shared with do-gooder firefighters and locksmiths alike-- without ever thinking what could happen if such keys got into realm of the average Joe, whose do-gooder status was unknown?  Yep it would.

Look but don't pay attention to key teeth details!
Wouldn't it be even scarier if those who cried "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" also were dumb enough to post high res photos of the skeleton keys on their websites (pictured left) so that anyone with access to key blanks and tools could easily measure and create their own skeleton key copies?  Again, yes.

2 comments:

Colin McD said...

Man, this is just one collossal failure after another.

Firefighters and emmergency department personal need to access various areas of a building. There should be some sort of restriction on this access.

But the assumption that these old keys provide security is a fallacy. Stomping on this locksmith is just silly.

IMHO I think that some alternative has to be reached. Either a building needs to keep a full time person to open these areas (still with allot of flaws there) or that these locks be replaced on a regular basis with an account of whom owns which keys.

I can still see problems with both of these approaches. Any ideas for a better solution?

Tim MalcomVetter said...

Colin,

The old fashioned firefighter's axe is a more important tool than universal skeleton keys. Just bust your way in, during the emergency.

This should be a problem that is addressed individually by each building owner. If you are a tenant and don't like the owner's policy-- move to a building that has a policy you like.