25 Feb
2016
25 Feb
'16
6:34 p.m.
Some municipalities have restrictions on it, ranging
from no restrictions to
outright ban, or requiring the locksmith to keep on file the identity of who
requested a key, and/or "proof" of ownership of the lock (physically
bringing it in, letter on company letterhead, etc.)
On Thu, 25 Feb 2016, Jay West wrote:
My current locksmith - the first time I went in and
asked him to cut a key,
he said since it was stamped "do not duplicate" I would have to bring in the
item it went to. I walked out. Came back later that day with a two wheeler,
and lifted an HP 2100S cpu onto his counter. He no longer asks ;)
Many locksmiths, including most big-box home improvement stores (who no
longer keep a decent array of keys), will cut a duplicate of a key that
has a piece of masking tape over a "Do Not Duplicate" stamp!
It is illegal to duplicate a DO-NOT-Duplicate key for anybody too stupid
to cover the staamp.
One thing strikes me... how to prevent incorrect data.
I can think of two
types; A) Someone just types in bogus info, and B) I'm sure that over the
decades... someone in some computer room somewhere replaced a lock for
system XYZ with a standard off the shelf one. If they measure it and send in
the info - we have no way of knowing if that was a (computer) manufacturer
supplied lock and thus helpful to others, or some one-off that someone
installed themselves and thus an invalid datapoint.
Perhaps only list an entry if more than one person submits identical data?
Howzbout: list any that are reported, and a count of how many report that
particular info. That way, a single instance provides a hint of possible
inaccuracies (easy to do), or even completely different than standard
lock. A dozen people reporting identical data is a pretty good
confirmation, and if it doesn't work for you, then YOUR lock may have been
replaced at some point.
If only one other person has that machine, I'd rather have their
unconfimed measurements than a void in the database.
BTW, a decent machinist could easily build an Ace lock picking tool that
is calibrated - the sliders could be set to me the same depths as any Ace
key. Without knowledge of commercial availability, I designed one (but
didn't build) in high school half a century ago.