this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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We have an easy peasy solution to that.
We will just make it illegal for burglars to look under the mat.
And if they do look under the mat, we will also make it illegal fro them to take the key.
Finally we will also make it illegal for burglars to use the key.
See there an absolutely bullet proof solution, so why does the tech industry continue to claim this is a bad idea?
As a politician I simply can't understand why they are so contrary to this idea that will increase safety for everybody!!
/s (just in case)
I know it's only a joke, but this comment highlights something that many folk in power seem to forget.
Houses and their doormats are in a single physical location that has an unambiguous legal jurisdiction. In any given country, if you break into a house you are subject to that country's laws.
Not so with the Internet. It's very difficult to legislate for something like this because other countries' laws can just ignore you, and you have no power over those countries and their laws. So, making things physically secure is far more effective than legislation, especially when it comes to the Internet.
It's not only a joke, it's an analogy to show how stupid the claims of politicians are, that they want to have a backdoor for law enforcement.
Of course the analogy isn't perfect for the reasons you describe, and those reasons makes it actually worse.
Or... you and a friend on another floor put your keys under each other's mats. Then you both always have a way in and the chance of a burglar figuring it out is almost zero.
That’s security through obscurity, as well as shared keys.
What happens when the burglar in waiting watches someone grab the key and use it?
Or in the case of phone security, what happens when your address is printed on the key?
A better analogy is fire lock boxes, where apartment complexes have a master key stored in a box out front that can be unlocked with a master key firemen carry.
Unfortunately, that bic pen trick turned out to work on those lock boxes a decade or so ago, meaning all a burglar needed to get into ANY residence in ANY building with a fire lock box was a bic pen. In fact, a burglar could open the box, get the key, duplicate it, put it back in the box, and nobody would even know security had been compromised.
It’s a pretty good analogy for what’s being asked for here.
Granted, it's a work in progress; after all the commandment that says "You shall not steal" hasn't fully stopped burgling or thieving, but I'm sure it will happen soon.
They just haven't shown it to enough school kids yet. That will fix it!