String of clubs making sport of picking locks

SOMERVILLE, Mass. - Schuyler Towne took a gleaming brass lock, inserted a small bent piece of flat steel into the keyhole, and gently applied finger pressure. Then he slid in a lockpick and manipulated the mechanism until it swung open.

In less than 20 seconds.

Towne, 26, is not a burglar. He's a lockpicking instructor and part of a growing competitive movement called "locksport" that involves learning the theory of locks, analyzing the devices, and figuring out ways to quickly defeat the systems without destroying them.

While lockpickers thrive on the intellectual thrill of beating all sorts of locks, they oppose attempts to use the skill for mischievous purposes and have laid down universal ethical guidelines: "You never pick a lock you don't own, and you never pick a lock that's in regular use," Towne said.

Some lockpickers observe a code of responsible disclosure by providing information to manufacturers on weaknesses they discover in locks they defeat - just as responsible computer hackers do when they detect security flaws in software.

Still, the sport worries some law enforcement authorities, including James Pasco of the National Fraternal Order of Police. "I'm sure that the vast majority of people engaged in it are just puzzle solvers of a sort, [but] you run the absolute risk of educating criminals," Pasco said.

Babak Javadi of the U.S. chapter of The Open Organization Of Lockpickers, or TOOL, disagrees. He says locksport requires enthusiasts to invest a lot of time and patience. What's more, crooks are likely to use crowbars and saws because they do not care about surreptitious entry, he said.

The practice of lockpicking is generally legal if the picker owns the lock or has explicit permission to pick it. But having, creating, and distributing lockpicking tools may be illegal, depending on the location.

Locksport fans compete in several formats, including head-to-head speed contests.