picking locks

[Tony Duell]

> 
> >> I haven't had very good luck with paper clips. A better tool is a used
> >> dental pick, because this is tempered and holds up when you put stress on
> >
> >Or just buy a set of lock picks.  They're not expensive.  I think I
> >paid under $15 for a reasonably nice set.
> 
> Depending on where you are, owning a lock pick set may be illegal if you 
> do not have a reason to own one.

Does wanting to open classic computers without damage and/or operate the 
front panel lockswitch count as a 'reason to own lockpicks'? 

Is this one of those laws where if you're caught in the middle of the 
night on a stranger's doorstip with a set of lockpicks then you're 
comitting a crime (which IMHO is quite reaosnable) but if you happen to 
be at a friend's house repairing a PDP11/o5 then you do have a legal 
reason to have said lockpicks?

> 
> Last I knew, lock pick sets were illegal to own in NJ unless you are 
> someone that has a "legal" use for one. Of course, since legal use isn't 
> really defined, it leaves it pretty wide open. (It is also illegal to 
> have a police scanner in your car, as well as carry a center punch... 

Presumably becuase the automatic centre punch can be used to break car 
windows for the purposes of robbery.

> again, unless you have "legal" reasons for the above... of course, being 

Does wanting to drill holes in the right place count as a legal rason for 
having a centre punch? Because that's what I use mine for (and rarely, if 
ever, drill a hole without centre-punching it first).

-tony