[ I'm not on the list. Replies cc'ed to me. Public domain ] Once upon a time, the average citizen did not have access to locks. The U.S. Government had locks, and agencies to control them: the FBL, the CLA, and the NLA. They even knew that other governments had locks, but they also knew that those governments denied locks to their citizens, so the whole lock business was cartelized. However, the need for locks could not be denied, so the NLA was chartered to create locks for U.S. citizens. It created a lock, but didn't explain how the lock worked. Some people showed that the lock might be pickable by the NLA, although they couldn't pick it themselves. Some people thought that the extra wards in the lock were there to give the NLA a master key. But none of it could be proved, so people used the standard lock. As the society got wealthier, people had more things they needed to lock up. This created more incentive for lock creation, and citizens started to invent them. Some locks were sham locks and could be picked with a hairpin, or a skeleton key. Other locks were understandably difficult to pick, and came to be preferred to the NLA-approved standard lock. The NLA (and FBL and CLA) feared these locks that they hadn't devised and probably couldn't pick. So they proposed a scheme whereby they would create a new standard lock, which had an explicit master key. Naturally, this was viewed as a step backwards by people used to the standard lock, which they believed couldn't be opened by anyone but the key-holder. This lock design was opposed by nearly everyone. So they proposed a new lock standard, whereby everyone had to have a copy of their key registered with the NLA. This also was perceived as unworkable for the same reason as the master key system. In the meantime, of course, people were using these new citizen-created locks, which were widely thought to be strong. They expected no less of the NLA lock design, particularly since the NLA standard lock has been proven to be pickable. How will this story end? No one knows yet. Will the NLA seek to ban strong locks? Or will the NLA lose all its control over citizen locking? Time will tell.... -- -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> http://www.crynwr.com/~nelson Crynwr Software sells network driver support | PGPok | good luck, have fun! 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | taxes feed the naked Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | and clothe the hungry.