Possession of lock picking tools when you aren't a locksmith is illegal virtually everywhere.

Still cool.

actually it is legal to own the tools, but you are not allowed to use them on others dors. many people have lock pick stes ujst incase they lose their house key.

where can i get that card?!
(makes me realise that my home-made picks are too big) ty!

In an article I just read in Playboy, this is the business card that Kevin Mitnick hands out.

What about the turning pick? It's not enough to just lift the tumblers into place, you need a turning pick to keep constant pressure so the pins will hang on the shear line... This is like on movies where they show them picking locks with just the pick, it always makes me laugh.

nevermind, looks like theres one in the middle that you can bend. Sweet.

You mean a tension wrench? I'm going to assume it's the piece in the dead center and you have to bend it. Otherwise, that'd be a not so thin card.

Ok ok, so to clear up for you guys. This A) Does not appear to have a tension wrench (not called a turning pick russdog) which is 100% essential to pick a lock. And B) In most states (and if I remember correctly most countries) Owning and even using picks is not illegal. The way the law works, lockpicking is kind of an add-on offense. If you break into someone's home and you use picks, it's "Breaking and Entering with the use of Lock picks". But you can carry them openly, use them openly and and talk about using them openly, as long as you don't do anything else already illegal with them. Technically, I believe that if you were in a restaurant and the door was open, you could actually go and play with their lock (until they tell you to stop of course. And then they could also deny you service of course) :) Hope that helps guys.

(Ooooo, someone else remembers 'American Psycho'...)

As far as I am aware this was the first card of it's kind. It was concieved and made just before DEFCON in 2004. The bit in the middle is the tension wrench, if you look towards the right side it's slightly narrower to make it easy to bend. I think we did go ahead and make sure it was possible to actually pick a lock but the steel is a little bit thin for it to work well. Mitnick copied the design but he shortened the picks to fit five lines of his company's contact info on one end.

As far as I am aware carrying picks is like carrying a crowbar or coat hanger, it's not illegal unless you're arrested for something (trespassing, whatever). At that point they can be classified as burglary tools and possession of them added to the list of charges.

I actually use a homemade pick set at work pretty often. For instance...

*When a trainee locks their training manual in their roll-around cabinet, and forgets their key at home
*When the supply lady in our department is out for the day and I REALLY need a CD-R or a box of pens for a class
*When some doofus locks the tool cart with all my stuff in it and misplaces the (^%$(&%#&*(%# key

My boss looked at me kinda' funny the first couple times he saw me using it, but after he saw how useful it was, he got over it.

I want this bad. Should we be emailing the guy on the card for info, or is there somewhere else I can get these pre-made?

That is a pretty cool conversation starter, I wonder who thought of using that as a business card first.

Also, if you are on probation or parole, it is illegal for you to possess tools like this, but otherwise it isn't (at least in NY State).

seriously, where can i get this thing?

Melvin: Professional Thief....here's my business card with a DIY sample.

Great reference!

"That's bone. And the lettering is something called Silian Rail"

In Canada you'd get hosed for simply carrying these (unless you had your locksmithing license).

And by hosed, I mean charged and/or arrested.

In NC, carrying one of these on you could turn you into a felon:

"If any person . . . shall be found having in his possession, without lawful excuse, any picklock, key, bit, or other implement of housebreaking . . .such person shall be punished as a Class I felon."

http://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySe...

I guess the "lawful excuse" part (not defined anywhere) really boils down to the old "but officer, I can explain!" routine.

..the subtle thickness of it..

Macstudent: Wouldn't a rock or a hammer be an implement of housebreaking in NC? Carrying a brick could mean an arrest - you could easily throw that brick into a window and climb in! Let's face it lawmakers: if someone wants to break into a house, they will break into a house. No lock will stop that person.

Anything can be used to break into a house. Not to mention the law's use of the word "housebreaking", which could mean anything from breaking into a house to physically destroying it. Oh, the loopholes seem endless.

This is actually the prototype to Kevin Mitnick's card. I have the final product in my flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ranh/106709219/

It includes the four standard picks (which are great for about 95% of most standard locks). I'm just not too sure how well that tension wrench would be. If it's easy enough to bend, then it might not be tough enough for some of the more difficult locks. I'll stick with my 50 piece set for now, but I'd love to see some reviews of this in action.

50 piece set? I only have the 15 piece set. :-(

Nice American Psycho reference in the post.

At least you know it wasn't wasted. :)

First off, I own and know how to use lock picks. When I was young, a friend of mine had a father who was a locksmith. He helped us learn how to use the tools. We had competitions to pick all kind of locks. It was really fun. Anyway, that creditcard pick set is worthless. The metal lockpicks are made of have to be spring steel in order to survive the stress of lockpicking. Also, as another commenter pointed out, the tension bar is critical and MUST be spring steel to create the proper tension on the tumbler. If you are interested in learning how to pick locks, buy a genuine set on the internet. They aren't that expensive.

Then again, with nails like that, who needs lockpicks? :P

If this is as stiff as a credit card, you might not even have to break the picks out, haha

When I worked at Hughes Aircraft, one colleague hat a set of picks given to him by a S.W.A.T. team neighbor, and another in my office copied the set using the spring steel bristles that were left behind by street sweepers. Either could open the silly lock on my desk faster with the picks (including tension bar) than I could with my key.
Of course any classified materials had to be secured with a D.O.D. approved combination lock.

As a junior high shop teacher pointed out, locks are only to keep from tempting the honest neighbors.

I love-Love-LOVE the card! It's a great idea and while I know it won't work I can't help but wish that it would.

Here in the UK, from a legal standpoint, you might be in trouble with carrying this card under the Theft Act of 1968. You'd be "Going Equipped" with a tool designed for use in theft. You might be safe if you demonstrated that you had no intent to commit a theft (A lack of preparatory or practice material at home for example), that the kit was unsuited for the task of obtaining illegal entry or by demonstrating that the card had a perfectly legitimate use as a tool for remembering someone's details.

Thinking about it, if you have a PDA or Mobile then you couldn't use the business card excuse... However if you had several in your name then the excuse might become valid again.