There's nothing new under the sun!

[Richard Snow]

During a routine web browsing session, I came across the following at
http://www.deter.com/unix/papers/treatise_locks.html :

"Rudimentary Treatise on the Construction of Locks, 1853 (excerpt)

-- Charles Tomlinson

A commercial, and in some respects a social, doubt has been started within
the last year or two, whether or not it is right to discuss so openly the
security or insecurity of locks. Many well-meaning persons suppose that the
discussion respecting the means for baffling the supposed safety of locks
offers a premium for dishonesty, by showing others how to be dishonest.
This is a fallacy. Rogues are very keen in their profession, and already
know much more than we can teach them respecting their several kinds of
roguery. Rogues knew a good deal about lockpicking long before locksmiths
discussed it among themselves, as they have lately done. If a lock -- let
it have been made in whatever country, or by whatever maker -- is not so
inviolable as it has hitherto been deemed to be, surely it is in the
interest of honest persons to know this fact, because the dishonest are
tolerably certain to be the first to apply the knowledge practically; and
the spread of knowledge is necessary to give fair play to those who might
suffer by ignorance. It cannot be too earnestly urged, that an acquintance
with real facts will, in the end, be better for all parties.

Some time ago, when the reading public was alarmed at being told how London
milk is adulterated, timid persons deprecated the exposure, on the plea
that it would give instructions in the art of adulterating milk; a vain
fear -- milkmen knew all about it before, whether they practiced it or not;
and the exposure only taught purchasers the necessity of a little scrutiny
and caution, leaving them to obey this necessity or not, as they pleased.

...The unscrupulous have the command of much of this kind of knowledge
without our aid; and there is moral and commercial justice in placing on
their guard those who might possibly suffer therefrom. We employ these
stray expressions concerning adulteration, debasement, roguery, and so
forth, simply as a mode of illustrating a principle -- the advantage of
publicity. In respect to lock-making, there can scarcely be such a thing as
dishonesty of intention: the inventor produces a lock which he honestly
thinks will posess such and such qualities; and he declares his belief to
the world. If others differ from him in opinion concerning those qualities,
it is open to them to say so; and the discussion, truthfully conducted,
must lead to public advantage: the discussion stimulates curiosity, and
curiosity stimulates invention. Nothing but a partial and limited view of
the question could lead to the opinion that harm can result: if there be
harm, it will be much more than counterbalanced by good."

One can imagine all sorts of interesting ways to bring this piece into the
modern context, but I particular enjoyed the thought of GCHQ/NSA being
"rogues" and "the unscrupulous".

By the way, if anyone can point me at the original source of this (it
appeared on the Web exactly as it is reproduced here, with no further
references), I would be very grateful.

	... Dick.


Dr C.R.Snow
Department of Computing Science
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU
United Kingdom.

E-mail: C.R.Snow@newcastle.ac.uk
Phone:  +44 191 222 8064
Fax:    +44 191 222 8232
WWW: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/c.r.snow/

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