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Comment by IvyMike | Hacker News Reader

They are. But I honestly don't care that much, because when my home was broken into, this is how they picked my lock: http://imgur.com/vN2LkNn

Here is an alternate solution: http://imgur.com/inJp7zB

Yes, picking a lock is much quieter but the reality is most break-ins emphasize the word "break".

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I worked as an apprentice locksmith from the middle of high school until I graduated college - we always told people, standard locks should be looked at only as a way to inconvenience a person from breaking in. If someone really wants to break into your house, they are going to; it's only a matter of how long it takes them to get in, and through what method. Granted, it was at this point they would ask about security systems, which we also installed - but the general principal still stands.

>If someone really wants to break into your house, they are going to

That's the basic principle of security. Be it crypto, physical security or anything else.

You're always just buying time. So the question is how much time do you want to buy.

If you can kick down the door in 2 seconds you just have a very low security margin. Compare this with crypto where you measure security margins in years. I'm just a bit baffled that it's that low for apartments in the US.

You probably couldn't kick down most doors here. Well at least I couldn't.

Obviously, lock safety tend to go hand in hand with other forms of safety. My experience is that houses and apartments in the US seem relatively easy to break into. Here in Stockholm (Sweden), I've never ever seen an apartment door that opens inwards (and most are steel enforced), and street-facing bottom floor windows have steel bars usually.

I think apartment doors open outwards in many places because of fire safety concerns? (you could block the exit)

Looks like the lock was still your problem even if it wasn't picked.

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