12 Reasons Why I Promote Open Source Security

Some points to defend phrases like “How dare you! Bad guys can use these techniques!”. So let’s just start a dialogue and do some critical thinking and view some different perspectives. It’s gonna be fun 😉

I’ve divided this into 12 separate reasons but many of them overlap. Let’s start with one that everyone can agree on, this one shouldn’t hurt anybody’s feelings. xoxo

1. There is NOTHING proprietary here.

There is nothing proprietary or secret or confidential that I teach here, and to be more specific, there is nothing that I possess by way of knowledge or skill sets that any single free Citizen in this country can’t go learn on their own. Example: Any dangerous felony burglar can walk into home depot and buy a MasterLock Padlock, take it home, cut it in half, and look inside to figure out how it works and how to exploit it. NOTHING illegal or confidential about that, padlocks are not a regulated controlled substance. Not to mention, you don’t even NEED to look inside a lock. Some are so terrible you can literally put some bent paperclips inside and GUESS and it may just pop open.

Handcuffs are the same way…

Anybody, including violent felons (assuming they have been released from prison and have internet access) can legally and anonamously go online and order a standard issue police handcuff, and FYI they are cheap, they are dated, and they are not regulated. Not only can a violent criminal purchase police issue handcuffs but keys as well (which are easy to miss on a suspect search). AND they couuuuuld drill them open and see how they work, but they don’t have to do that either because not only can the guess and get it right but ANYBODY can also go online and purchase SEE THROUGH TRAINING HANDCUFFS.

I do not teach anything that is “secret” and that you can’t legally learn and possess and practice on your own.

2. Other sources are blatantly lying to you; don’t get mad at me for telling you the truth.

I have worked for two agencies that both said that they care very much about me…. while one continually gave me expired body armor and the other cared so much that I never met more than 2 people in my chain of command… ever. The title of this bullet point is to convey to you that I am not the asshole for bringing up a huge gaping hole in both commercial and government best-practices. Your agencies and private businesses are failing you and leaving you in the dark, I on the other hand am here to help. 

Law Enforcement (etc):

“We will do our job to the best of our ability, until it comes to training our new cadets on the limitations of their gear”

  • Either A- your agency does not know that handcuffs are a 100 year old piece of technology that is available on the open market, unrestricted, and can be defeated by a fucking paperclip even with NO training
  • Or B- They do know.
  • Which means- if they are aware then why have they not trained you and warned you for how to prepare to avoid this or handle this if it becomes an issue. If they are not aware then why the hell fucking not?!?! And while with this one issue your agency is failing you, correct, the companies that your agency BUYS products like handcuffs and flexcuffs from is failing your agency by not telling them about the limitations of their products.

Civilians:

  • When you move into a home nobody probably tells you about the short-falls of the shitty security of the home you are about to occupy.
  • When you buy an upgraded lock at the store to protect your home and it says “Pick proof” or “Bump Proof”, yeah… I’ve picked and bumped many of those. And will provide documentation soon enough. Always happy to provide more content to this site 🙂
  • Does it sometimes happen in real life where bad guys break into homes? Yes. Do they sometimes tie up, or tape up, or plastic flexcuff a family and rape and/or murder entire families? Yes. Do you have the right to learn how to escape illegal restraints? Yes. (Side note: Do you have the legal right to escape lawful detention by a police officer? No.)

3. You can not shift personal accountability because of source info.

“No, it’s cool. I saw this on the internet!”

If you learn to pick locks and decide to break into a house and fucking rob or burglarize someone, plenty of other armed officers would be more than happy to throw your immoral ass into prison. Period.

When would I personally escape restraints? At a party whilst drunk and trying to get laid; or if I am caught off guard and am the victim of a home invasion by armed thugs; or if I am overseas with the military or on a contract and am captured by the enemy; or if I am overseas and arrested by legitimate authorities for some bull shit charge and do not have any faith in that country’s judicial system; or if I am teaching others how to lawfully escape restraint; but if I have victimized someone, I have no intention on escaping lawful restraints.

Fun fact: If you have tools of escape on you, at least in MY state that I worked, and you do NOT disclose the possession of those tools then that is another arrest-able charge, and if you bring those tools into the jail then you get yet ANOTHER criminal charge.

4. The cat is already out of the bag.

Above, at 2:09 you can view a young child open a gun safe with a paperclip.

For free, on the internet, like the video above, you can watch hundreds of young kids show you how to break out of handcuffs with bobby pins and how to pick through door locks with paperclips.

I have made the internet NO MORE DANGEROUS than the current state of freedom of information that already exists. In this age of the internet, especially the modern internet that grows every day, you can learn how to properly build a fucking atomic bomb and how to become an expert brain surgeon…. oh, for free too.

*Side note: when teaching my in depth course I reserve the right to not teach anybody that I choose to, so when someone approaches me and says in a creepy voice “Yeah…. do you like have any other techniques for like how to crack open safes and stuff?” then I can and do say “No. There is NO lawful or survival need for me to learn that and definitely no need for you to learn that. Get out. Don’t come back.”

5. Have you ever seen a gun range, or a martial arts studio?

Be consistent in your outrage.

I have heard the phrase before “What if bad guys use your techniques!”. I think that would be terrible. You know what else would be terrible? If a bad guy went to a few bad ass shooting schools and got rid of that old sideways-Glock, hood-rat shooting technique, and learned how to be a formidable foe and used the skills he learned at a civilian shooting school to meet and exceed the training that local Law Enforcement gets and just wreck havoc upon a city with a rifle and some armor and a ton of ammo.

The people that say “What if a bad guy uses your lock picking info!?!?” to me don’t seem to be up in arms (haha, get it?) about civilian unregulated shooting schools. They also aren’t upset that local shit heads can go to boxing schools or martial arts schools and learn how to be better bullies or how to one-punch knock out cops who are fat and old and complacent.

If you are concerned about this information being public then go throw away all the fucking forks in your house, idiot, because they may give you diabetes. …even though they may also make you healthy. Much about tools, skillsets, and knowledge is completely inert. Their moral righteousness or evil are only dependent upon the person wielding them, and their intent.

One of the biggest benefits of taking my course, for civilians, is to see through the lies and the illusion of security and learn to very inexpensively update your own home security. Benefits for Law Enforcement, hopefully are apparent; preventing escapes, investigating burglaries etc.

6. What you do in one area of your life, may or may not have an effect on your moral-whole.

As much as it pains some people to hear, I do believe that you can tattoo your face and join in unholy matrimony as in interracial gay couple and burn the American flag in your front yard, and still work in a public-service job and help people. But that’s another topic.

Back on track, I’m here to help. I teach people to make them more prepared in life or at work on missions and patrols. I have every right to teach whatever the fuck I want however the fuck I want. I do not ask for permission to do so. The good news about that is that should you choose to attend one of my courses then you get absolutely top notch training and there is nobody holding anything over my head and preventing me from giving you all of the training that you deserve.

Within this moral debate is the “Government vs. Civilian” argument that pops up quite a bit in tactical training circles. Check out the podcast above (episode 143) for a more in depth discussion but, there certainly is an argument to be made that civilians have every right (or more, honestly) to learn the “military and LE only” knowledge of how to defeat their enemies with whatever tools they can imagine.

After all, isn’t it “The government is the people, and the people are the government”? And, aren’t militias made up of the body of the people, the community?

7. All this “oldest profession” crap… #history

Some say soldiers. Some say prostitution. Whatever. I could care less, and honestly I don’t give a fuck WHICH profession people think was the first “profession” tens of thousands of years ago. What is important for me, for teaching you about locks (and more) is that it is NOT a stretch to believe that people have been both morally and immorally learning to fully understand, and take advantage of, and exploit manufacturing flaws and designs in locks…as long as locks have been around. I shouldn’t have to go to in depth about this one. Seems pretty basic. #basicbitch #stayclassy

8. You may be shocked, but “non-government” people get paid for this.

There are several different entire careers of groups of people who’s sole purpose and paycheck are reliant upon exploiting and updating and bypassing all sorts of different physical as well as digital security. What the fuck do you do when you are locked out of your car? Anyone? Mayyyybe call a locksmith? OK well where exactly is the public outcry that locksmiths have access to this knowledge? Yeah. None. Red Teammers, aka Social Engineers, aka Penetration Testers are paid by HUGE companies as well as almost every layer of government in this country to attempt to bypass and break through security everywhere from phone companies to The Pentagon. In order to help IMPROVE the security of the site that they are paid to break into. It’s actually a really cool career field.

Anyways, no public outcry there. It’s actually REQUIRED by a growing percentage of government agencies in order to improve security.

9. Legal vs Moral.

  • When you can be both legal and moral, be both. Staying out of jail is a good thing.
  • When you can be legal and not moral, you should stop. Always. (Because you legally can, does not mean you morally should).
  • When you can be moral but not legal, you should do what is right, as a human, to help others.
  • When what you are doing is neither moral or legal…. you are probably literally hitler.

10. It is LITERALLY child’s play.

Above we showed you two videos of children picking locks.

Don’t waste your time complaining about the information that I teach. If I ever decide to work tax-free for a criminal gang to consult them on how hoodlums could burglarize better then you have a right to complain. For now, let’s keep this content packaged towards helping prepared citizens get up to date on their security and training, and how to keep oath keeping officers safe from their agencies who allow them to be ill prepared.

11. “Locksport” is a growing, legal hobby.

www.Toool.us

I mention them a LOT on this website, one reason is that they are a WEALTH of information but another is that they make it VERY clear (as I try also) that right up front they have a moral code that they follow “Only pick those locks that you either own, and/or have been given explicit permission to pick” as well as several other principles that make for a safe and moral hobby for introverts, puzzle enthusiasts, those that like to work with their hands, and the curious, etc.

12. The Framing is important.

Tactical Lock Picking – Is the art of overcoming locked obstacles in the field, during emergencies, when resources are limited and it is morally right to do so.

The packaging of information is certainly of a very high importance.

If, in all of my content, I said things like “This skill set is designed so that you can prepare hidden and covert tools so that you can be the best-est burglar in the world and steal from the most amount of people…” that would a problem, a legitimate problem. My goal, stated ad nauseam, is to help first responders and civilians to overcome locked obstacles in emergencies and to help people better secure their homes and businesses.

Conclusion?

I am very ok with what I teach. That being said, I will be making an effort to be VERY clear about how and why I teach, as well as the fact that anything learned on this site is to be used by the viewer at his own discretion and risk and that I assume ZERO fucking responsibility for anyone that decides to not act like an adult. I have a sneaky suspicion that most of the audience here don’t have many complaints about my teaching content. This one is for people that are still a little confused and that don’t have all the perspective that I have about any moral obligation they think I should or shouldn’t have. Teaching is my passion. Helping people prepare themselves with better security is also my passion, for both professionals and civilians.

Thanks so much for spending some time here and feel free to drop us a line at our contact us page with your thoughts.

UPDATE: Click *HERE* for another very similar high quality article from “Lockpicking Extreme” discussing the moral and legal issues behind teaching lock picking skill sets.

Very Respectfully,

-Pat Watson

Leave a Reply