Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone
shloosl.com
shloosl.com
eg- Anyone can easily just take their friends key, snap a pic and have creep access to their house/car/locker/safe/etc.
I am not sure if this kind of easy service is a good one to have around. Do not forget real-world security too!
> Keyjacking is not allowed
> Worried someone's going surreptitiously copy your key with our service? Not to worry. We don't accept surreptitious or flyby pictures of keys. The key must be held in the person's hand, with their fingers visible. In any case, we require a credit card to ship the key, so in case of fraud, identity can be traced back. We respond swiftly to all inquiry from law enforcement agencies.
Seems legit.
It could happen, but it sounds a lot more like a hollywood movie plot security threat than a real security threat.
I like the slowness and hassle of duplicating keys because I know that someone would have to swipe my keys to do that. Not just snap a clear picture.
The future is probably with smarter locks, not enhancing what is broken.
Here's why I'm so excited:
1. Shloosl solves a small but acute problem that nearly everyone in the country has.
2. It's a big FU to a fragmented and unevolving couple billion dollar industry. I don't want to find a locksmith or go to Home Depot. I just want a duplicate key. And I don't care whether I pay $1.50 for it or $10 for it.
3. It's going to have some interesting implications on physical security in society. Locks are already useless to any unskilled criminal with a $100 lockpicking gun. But now, any clown with an iPhone can take a picture of a set of keys and have a working copy sent to anyone in the country within days. I certainly hope the security industry responds with something good.
I'd like to think the solution is a better kind of lock, but I don't know. Credit cards have been vulnerable in the same way for a while, but the networks or merchants essentially insure fraudulent transactions so it hasn't resulted in a real problem for people.
Either way, I'm looking forward to trying this out this weekend.
Security industry? As you said, it's unlikely they'll be surprised. I'd say if it catches on then we're much more likely to see legislation against these sorts of services unless they enforce valid IDs– hell, give it a month and I'm sure someone could find a way to spin it as a DMCA issue. That seems a whole lot easier to them than actually trying to solve the problem, which is that the locks we use are fundamentally insecure.
All in all though I do think it's a great idea, and I hope it does happen. I might even give it a try since I just welcomed a new roommate and it turns out I didn't have as many spare keys as I thought I did...
That said, you can stick many doors through in some parts of the world by simple expedient of giving them a swift kick. People don't seem overly concerned. So I suspect even if it proved simple to get pictures, it would have to be horribly abused before people did anything about it.
Meh, I like the idea but I'd much rather just stop by Home Depot and use the automated key duplication machine for $1.50. Last time I needed spare keys I spent $10 and got myself a handful.
I love the technology behind this (though not the name--I will never remember this name), and I bet they'll be successful, but I honestly don't see this denting the key duplication industry in the slightest.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2391571 - Show HN: DittoKey - Door keys copied from a photo app.
For my money it's a cool idea, but an overtechnical and imperfect solution to a rare and cheap problem. Keys are cut in minutes, cheaply, with professional guidance at tens of thousands of places around the world.
Last week I needed a new copy of my house keys. The next day I was going out to lunch and noticed there was a bicycle shop that copied keys down the street. I said "I'll meet you inside", got the copies made in about 2 minutes, and made it to the restaurant before the waiter had even come by to take the order.
If I were a shut-in, I suppose this could be easier, but if I were a shut-in I wouldn't need more copies of my keys.
Why would I risk my security and have to wait for the mailman? I can get a key cut at one of 10 shops near my house, door to door in 15 minutes.
And in the case of a lost key, I'd replace the barrel of the lock too.
That said, I had a clever idea on my way to work this morning.
They've already got automated kiosks[1] all over the place, why not network those, give customers a login and let them save their keys to a centralized location. You'd then be able to get a copy of any of your keys without having the original present. You could even share keys with another account - visiting friend, whatever, so they can get a copy cut in their hometown. No need to save any info besides login credentials and keys (ie. nothing that could allow someone to trace a key back to a lock via a billing address).
Maybe I should have just gone to a couple of other shops?
You had no problem, but you had to retain physical access to the key for long enough to get it to the store and back.
With this service, that requirement goes away.
I'm not saying it was impossible before, but this makes abuse a whole lot easier and potentially much more widespread.
And the one time I was trying to copy a key which Home Depot didn't have blanks for, it said "DO NOT COPY" on it, and the locksmith I went to only asked me to fill out a slip of paper with my name, the address the key was for, and the type of location it was for (house, garage, etc).
I filled it out with entirely incorrect information.
This service really does not open up many doors that were not already open.
High security locks whose keys need protection, such as BEST Locks, are probably outside the scope of this service, and are not normally available to consumers anyways.
On the one hand "oooh, that's useful, I need another set for loaning to cat-sitters."
On the other hand, "Keys are worthless now!"
The gripping hand is that keys have been worthless for quite some time, but we continue to use them. Whether out of habit, or because they feel sufficient.
They're clearly not useless.
Actually... Damn... http://www.google.com/patents/US7181939. Similar idea is already invented and patented.
Although, it isn't anything like I imagined it would be. My design's a lot more practical and only 1 piece, so the patent won't get in the way but I don't think it's something consumers might want to put up with. Having to enter a combination to use your house or car keys each and every time just doesn't seem worth it. Then again... fear is the easiest thing to sell.
What do you guys think? Would you buy a combination lock key sheath for $19.99?
A unscrupulous car mechanic could save up a bunch of pictures of keys then sell them online anonymously to random people with fake credit cards. You wouldn't even need the peoples address just google map the neighborhood and look for their cars.
It'd be a lot harder to sneak off from work to the hardware store then just take a picture of their key.
This isn't even a real problem people have.
2) Geocoded pix in the exif data? So a pix of the bike rack key taken while I'm standing in my driveway is easily accurate enough to find my driveway.
Edit: I'm assuming this is idea was relating to an online business. You could always give a copy of your keys to your friends if your willing to drive/walk somewhere
This is also known as registered mail. The killer problem is the post office is 10x as inconvenient as just going across the street to the hardware store.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_code
Lets say you have a classic 60s/70s-ish minicomputer collection and you need a key for the rack mount door. Assuming no one swapped it out, every PDP-8 ever shipped was locked with a "ACE XX2247 tubular key". And no I'm not making this up.
After more than a decade of starting my car, my key physically began to wear out and I had to have another key cut to code, which the stealership had on file for me. The wear on the key was pretty surprising. It was expensive, but because I was expecting to have to replace the much more expensive locking mechanism I was relieved to only be out $15 or whatever it was for a dealer made key.
Also anyone who's ever replaced a lockset at home, probably noticed that the keycode is usually written on the outside packaging, so you can buy 3 locks where any key works in any lock, without having to cut any extra keys or special order.
I have three keypad locks on my three house doors, so I don't use keys at home, and the stereotypical NFC card at work, so I only use keys in my cars ignition. This is likely the biggest future problem for this business.
I'm not too convinced by that, the only times I've had to get keys cut in the last year were because:
- I moved into a new apartment and my landlord only had one set of keys. I didn't always want to be home when my housemates wanted to get in so the first thing we did was get new keys cut.
- I lent a key to my landlord to do repairs, and they didn't return it. I borrowed one of my housemate's key and got a copy cut (protip: copying a copy isn't a great idea) straight away.
I guess maybe it's different in the US, but over here I go past at least five locksmiths on my way to work. Other than that, cool idea :)
(My landlord isn't too great BTW)
Easily s/apartment/office.
Flawless, proof that just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
Though, the same could be said for a PO box delivery with an anonymous pick-up.
I think at this rate, I'll just break into my old apartment! ;)
Also, you could have copied the key any time you lived there. They won't store videos such a long time. Even if they get data that you copied some key, they still don't know which key. Machines used in a home depot or a mall are dumb, they do not work with key numbers and can't store them.
Maybe Lockitron is much more than just a convenience.
Just a thought.
To protect one site they're already obsolete except for some pretty exotic high end locks.
Metal keys will never be obsolete from a police perspective because here's "burglary tools" to bust people, and patterns to discern, and a piece of metal evidence with fingerprints, and ordering history, and shipping history... They may be useless for protecting one site, but they're a great tool for busting a serial burglar who's done it a dozen times.
At least half the people will not mind the permission to post things for them. When pleaserobme.com catches wind of this, they're gonna get a lot of renewed media attention!
...and totally not crepy...
WHAT THE FUCK?
one more reason to get a $70 lock where the key is not that easy to reproduce! and hopefully they stick to the normal rules and ask for the certificate when u want a copy. that would make it a bit safer.
"For now, we accept only two types of keys. Chances are your house key is one of these."
Both of these keys have a pin coding - each of the five pins has a value from, IIRC, 1 to 9. With a little practice, one can decode keys visually in a few seconds, I can't imagine it being hard to write an image processing algorithm to do it.
I've decoded keys that I've seen people carrying on rings on their belts (and, in many cases, the pin values are stamped right on the key). I don't carry keys where people can see them, but I'm a little bit paranoid. With the advent of this service it probably pays to be a bit more paranoid, since somebody could take a picture of your key, send $5, and get a copy w/o knowing anything about pins and tumblers.
I'm really looking forward to when I get the time to rig up my door so I can use my yubikey instead. Much easier than all the metal keys I have to carry around now, and much less damaging to my pockets and belt-loops.
It seems like the name Shloosl inspired by it.