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This is part of a larger ethos of curiosity about how things work and building, modifying and demystifying tools used everyday; e.g hacker culture. I don’t think it is particularly fair to reduce skills like this, or frankly exploration of skills like this on private property, to one negative and narrow usecase.

My family recently moved and, during the move, our file cabinet was accidentally locked. The key was lost years ago. Being able to pick the lock came in handy. Not all skills that CAN be used for illegal purposes WILL be used for illegal purposes.

Wanting to become a hacker is what got me into programming. Never became a hacker. Now do software dev for a living.

just to add to what others pointed out. it's only criminal in its unlawful usesses. locksmith and pen testing are things. in these activities there is usually a understanding and knowledge of how the thing works.