ddhr.org - Keys

I think at this point in the technological revolution, we should no longer be using keys. When was the last time a key was actually beneficial? "Gosh, I'm glad I'm carrying this pointy metal object in my pocket where it can cause mortal damage and possible death!" It's more like, "Whoops, I locked my keys in my car!" or "I locked myself out of my house ... again!"

My building at work has a pretty simple yet effective system: An electronic keypad. I know these were available on vehicles about 10 years ago, but the fad never really caught on. For some reason, people feel more comfortable carrying a pointy metal object and/or a bulky rectangular plastic thing. And this same device is available on garage door openers, but for whatever reason, it never spread to the front door. I can really only think of 3 reasons it didn't become popular:

Security. People think it's easy to guess a numerical code. The keypad at work has 10 digits, and each entry code is 5 digits long. That means there are 10⁵ = 100,000 possible codes. And while that's not an astronomically large number, if a person was willing to try 100,000 different codes to break into your house, I'd say let 'em; they deserve to get in.
Reliability. What happens if your power goes out and you need to get into your house? This is an excellent point, but I have an excellent counterpoint: When was the last time you tried to get into your house when the power was out? I can think of exactly zero times this has ever happened in the history of mankind.
Convenience. This is really the only good argument. It's more convenient to push a button on your key chain as you're walking to your car than to wait until you get to your car to type in a code. I don't have a counterpoint to this, except maybe to use a fingerprint scanner on the door handle.

And that brings me to my next point. My laptop has a pretty cool security feature: Logging in with a fingerprint reader. I don't have to carry anything around (except ... ya know ... my fingers) and I don't have to memorize a code. There's literally no way this device can fail or mess up, as long as its scanning ability is up to par. One argument is that all a thief would need to do is kidnap you, knock you out, and use your finger against your will. To that I say this: (a) A thief could do that with a key just as easily, and (b) most theft is non-violent these days. There isn't much money to be gained in stealing 5-year-old cars and laptops. Theft these days is more about identity and credit. But anyway, it amazes me that the simple technology used to logon to my computer hasn't also been utilized to unlock my car and my house. C'mon Bill Gates and Steve Jobs! Where's Windows Vista Door Edition or the iKey? #technology

Comments

Emily

Jun 12, 2007

There are at least half a dozen times in the last year that I have had to use a key to get into my house because we didn't have power. This is the only reason I carry a house key since I use the garage door opener under normal circumstances. Peco (our power company) claims to be working on the problem with the frequency that we lose power and have done so by chopping most of the trees in the area in half.

Dave

Wow I had no idea. Insert foot in mouth. But my second point still stands because God invented batteries.

JSW

2 of our cars have keypads on the drivers door and I love them, have both vehicles programmed with the same code. I always just leave the keys in the car and lock it. This did however present a problem on a business trip once while renting the same model car that didn't have the keypad and out of habit I locked the keys in that car!

Jun 13, 2007

Whoops! Yeah that could be a problem. I always lock the car as I'm getting out, and the one time I ever left the keys in the car, I told myself to remember to not lock the doors as I got out. I forgot to remember, and a call was made to AAA.