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Anger at YouTube videos that show how to break into houses
Last updated at 11:07am on 29.11.06
Breaking and entering: A film showing how to make the tools needed to pick locks, has been viewed more than 60,000 times.
Householders were warned today to check their security in an alert sparked by video website YouTube.
Hundreds of videos are available on the site showing users how to pick locks, which experts fear will result in a spate of burglaries.
The films were uncovered in an investigation by Which? magazine and sparked calls for YouTube to remove them from the site.
Which? researchers found that a search for "lock-picking" on the site brings up more than 280 videos showing how different types of lock can be picked and what tools are needed.
One film, which shows how to make the tools needed to pick locks, has been viewed more than 60,000 times.
Jeff Turner of the Master Locksmiths Association said: "We wouldn't want to cause undue worry but some of the techniques should not be in the public domain because of the risk they'll be used by thieves.
"We see cases where people have been burgled but there's no sign of a forced entry. The police say a key was used. The householder says that no keys are missing but even then the insurance company refuses to pay out." Videos appear to have been put on the site by teenagers.
Some are accompanied by comments from people saying they have followed the instructions to successfully pick locks of neighbours.
One message says: "Made my first bump key today, using a file and a vice. It took me 10 minutes to file the grooves and 40 seconds to open my friend's front door. Sleep tight, people."
Google, which recently bought the site, said the matter is for YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary. YouTube was unavailable for comment.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin said recently that he became interested in picking locks as a student and once picked the lock of his company's offices when he didn't have a key.
Last month, he told reporters that he learned the "bumping" technique by watching a video available through the Google website.
"I was curious" he said. "You want to see a person just do it."
Reader views (10)
60 thousand views? Is that all? A successful youtube video has more like 60 million! I checked out what looked like the best video for picking a very common type of lock and it had over 8,500 views in about 2.5 years.
To pick locks, you need to invest money to buy good equipment and plenty of time to practice - two blocks right there to your average "grab a playstation and sell it for dope" type of thief.
And for more sophisticated criminals (who have time and money and probably vans), all of this lockpicking information has been available forever if you knew where to look.
Lesson is: If it matters to you, talk to the person in your local lock shop and ask about a lock that is a right bugger to pick. Yes, it will cost more money.
- Ed, London England
I don't think the videos should be removed. The site moto is 'broadcast yourself'so why, if you have a skill, can you not broadcast it?
The only thing videos like this in the public domain will instigate is a retaliation from lock companies to design better locks. We live in an age where there is no excuse. It can be done, but they can't be bothered.
I pick locks for a hobby, That doesn't automatically make me criminal does it? I don't use my skill for malicious purposes. It's the same for gun owners...just because they have a gun, it does not mean they are going to commit crimes with it.
I fully support Youtube & its decision not to comment. Why should they have to? If Youtube took every video down that they received a complaint for, there would be nothing on the website!
- Spence, London, UK
A video about lock picking will not make someone a criminal. The person who commits a crime does so whether or not they know how to pick a lock.
- Scott A, Long Beach, California USA
I find it profoundly humerous when people are protesting lock-picking vidoes on the internet, but don't seem as concerned about the Discovery series, "It Takes a Thief" which shows viewers how to break into people's homes, and get out in a matter of minutes. All of these techniques are far more effective than spending five minutes picking a lock.
- James Reiner, Des Moines, IA
I remember when people were up in arms 10 years ago because e-mail chain letters showed many how to pick locks. You have to take precautions to protect your home, no matter what. What's more scary is to see how free speech is so casually disregarded, abroad.
- Cesar Chavez, Los Angeles, CA
Wonder what their reaction will be when they find the videos that show you how to hack a computer.
- Bubba, Podunk, KY, USA
Get some good locks - like MEDECO, and your worries on this matter are over.
- Will, Florida, USA
Wow! The police state, ooga booga is in full throttle.
"We have to limit free speech, and monitor youtube in order to keep the people safe."
Freedom of speech, and expresssion have become too dangerous for us commoners to have. Only the elite have the wisdom to express basic human rights.
They're good, and we're bad.
Well I have news for you.
We don't want your surveillance cameras.
We don't want foreign owned toll roads.
We don't want your micro chips.
And we don't want your New World Order.
We want our Bill of Rights unfettered, and we want shed of oppressive, fascist, government that provocateurs, and carries out terrorist attacks and then blames it on the people who stand in their way.
All this technology is ours. Not yours.
Not yours to use to enslave us.
But ours to use to free us from you.
- Rexmundi, Winston-Salem, NC
Shouldn't be in the public domain? This sounds like magician secrets. All you have to do is go to the correct place, buy the books, equipment, and practice. It doesn't take a rocket scientist as most criminals prove on a daily basis. Locks on doors do NOT equal security. Security is acheived by layers of countermeasures. If anything, this will teach people not to rely solely on locks (which is what most people do).
- Ariel Miller, USA
It is amazing how something like this can drag on for so long, I heard about this several months ago. Most people have probably seen it because of the news coverage it has been given here in the United States where I live. Most are probably no more than curiosity. What the internet has shown us in this instance is that if you want to make a bad product design, it's just a matter of time before it is uncovered and hopefully will prompt change. Probably create so legal lawsuits as well for either making the information available so easily or for making the product so poorly. In the end, where there is a will, there is a way. I hope you all feel safe tonight as most of us are good people and don't steal from one another. It's the burglars that do the stealing and they were already there before youtube existed.
- Marcin, Seattle, USA
