agreenberg

Sure, traditional finance is also subject to powerful forms of financial tracking. (Though in some respects, Bitcoin is even less private: https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blo...) Monero is designed not to be, and that is pretty clearly the contrast I'm describing here.

Author of the article here. Can't help but ask: Do you not believe that Bitcoin's blockchain sometimes allows powerful forms of financial tracking? Are you aware there's a whole industry that of companies designed to do exactly this?

To address your points: I'm not sure where to find someone with this expensive machine. I know where to find Shapeways.com pretty easily. And as I wrote above regarding your second paragraph, a precisely-printed key surely is more reliable (and easier to make) than the bent sheet metal and grocery loyalty cards.

I agree this argument is silly. Whether an Ikon SK6 lock is considered "umbumpable" and by who is pretty subjective. But this thread began with a commenter saying that none of this is news, and that it's all 50 years old. Hyperbole is indeed pretty annoying.

Yeah, the story doesn't mention printing anything from your own $1,000 printer. Shapeways sells much higher quality 3D printing as a service, which is why these guys used it.

How much does that Easy Entrie machine cost? I'm seeing something like $10,000. A 3D-printed bump key ordered from Shapeways costs $5, and surely works better for obscure keyways than the ad hoc stuff you're describing.

"with the correct resources." Yes, the story here is about resources. Now they're not nearly as much of a hurdle, as you say.

"If I have access to a mill"..."rubber vacuum set" These sound more expensive and harder to obtain than a Shapeways key ordered by mail for $5.

Yes. The feature of these locks is that now you can bump them with 3D-printed keys.

So tell me how one would have bumped an Ikon SK6 in the past.

Author of the story here. Like I wrote, 3D printed bump keys make locks that weren't easily bumpable in the past more easily bumpable. That's not a 50 year-old idea. Likewise, if your 3D-printed lock picking tools were more effective than the traditional kind, than yes, I might write about them, too.

Done.

Just discovering this thread...I'm the author of the article linked above, and I actually wrote a follow-up to the story a couple of days later.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/03/09/tsa-nev...

The DHS was totally dishonest with me in their comments on the initially story, and less than fully honest even in their subsequent follow-up response to my questions. I was disappointed that only a fraction of the readers who read the first post noticed the second, so I'm glad hammock below was able to point out the DHS's contradictions.

Thanks to everyone for reading.