Hacker News Reader

Comment by eli | Hacker News Reader

Look, I get how it's an amusing and poignant metaphor for what a bad idea key escrow is, but we all know that (unlike strong encryption) dinky luggage locks never provided any meaningful security in the first place. I pulled one apart with my hands once when I lost the key. You definitely don't need bolt cutters.

The outrage at this "spectacular failure" feels a little insincere. You want to convince me the government can't keep sensitive data secure, the OPM hack is closer to the mark.

View on HN

The outrage isn't that your luggage can be stolen now. The outrage is that a) the government felt that it needed to invade the privacy of our luggage for security; so they made these master keys (yes, you can pull them apart with your hands, but provided the TSA doesn't regularly go through luggages, a broken lock is a quick way of telling someone's been through your stuff and you can take action appropriately) and b) it's been revealed that these keys can easily be obtained and the government does not care--showing the broader problem of what happens when you compromise privacy for "security".

We could have locks with seals. So the TSA could open them, but you could always tell that someone had opened them. Bonus points for re-sealing with a verifiable tag of some kind.

Ultimately it's pretty pointless, since your luggage can simply be stolen, or hacked open with a knife.

I've always treated the locks as part of the security theatre. Utter nonsense that probably got someone promoted because it sounded good. If someone at TSA said, "Hey we need to do something, anything, just so we look like we're doing something," then pointless toy locks are not all that damaging compared to other possible "somethings" they could have stuck us with.

The TSA truly needs to go.

You can also defeat pretty much any zippered luggage by just jabbing a ballpoint pen into the zipper. A dinky padlock on the pulls, regardless of who has the keys, is not keeping anyone out of your stuff.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpIJVWXsBBI

Reply on news.ycombinator.com