Locks and Lockpicking

Slate has an article up about locking picking videos on the intertubes, and the implications for locksmiths and lock manufacturers.
Apparently, amateurs interested in lockpicking have been organizing themselves on the internet and forming "locksport" clubs. They then videotape how to pick progressively more difficult locks, and put it on the internet. In the article, the author, Farhad Manjoo, compares the problems presented by amateur lockpicks revealing how to break into locks to computer hacking. This comparison is somewhat problematic though, because locks and computer security have different functions.

Locks are not meant, by themselves, to keep someone out of a place. The crucial function of a lock is to increase the time and effort required to enter a given location, be it a building, a safebox, or a car. Ultimately, the function of a lock is to slow down the person attempting to gain access to a location. There is an assumption in placing a lock on something that by slowing down access to a place through greatly increasing time and effort to enter there, someone or something can provide further warning of the security breach. Locks by themselves cannot make something safe. The time bought by the lock is the protective value of the lock.

For example, and one can think of many examples, if someone wanted to break into my house, they could simply smash a window and climb in. Now there are really high costs to this type of entry. Namely, the likelihood a neighbor or I will hear or see them doing smashing the window and be properly alerted to call the cops or arm myself. Someone smashing a window is a pretty rare occurrence, which is what would give the action the alarm value. If I didn't have locks on my house they could just walk in the front or back door, a rather normal occurrence, not provoking any potential alarm value. Similarly, someone kneeling in front of my doors, apparently picking the lock, would also provide a similar amount of warning.

This expectation that locks only provide time is further evidenced by door alarms in houses, where if a door is opened and the alarm is not disarmed in enough time, it begins issuing a warning through sound or calling the alarm company.

The point ultimately is that although you can apparently find videos on how to pick the locks of the White House and Buckingham palace, this knowledge is useless because other security measures exist to protect those places. Perhaps the greater problem with lock picking videos online is the damage it does to lock companies in the sense that they want to sell you on the strength and security of their locks, but to a large extent the strength and security of their locks is a fiction. In other words, a lock company wants you to believe that their locks can keep anyone out, but that simply isn't the case. It seems unlikely anyone would buy a lock if they were told that the lock will slow down potential burglars/thieves, but after that you are on your own.