It’s been a thing with other manufacturers for years. Unless you’re Apple marketing, then no… you’ve never seen it before. It’s the first time anybody’s done it, and you’re gonna love it.

You don’t need to imagine this. That’s exactly how many consumer safes work.

I bought a safe from Costco (USA) that had a Securam lock on it. I had a police officer friend causally mention that if they needed access, they’d call the safe company and get the backdoor code. I was a little shocked by this, so I emailed Securam. They said that actual use of such codes is at the discretion of the manufacturer that uses their locks, and they referred me to the safe manufacturer.

I emailed the manufacturer, and the customer support agent confirmed what my cop friend said. So I asked what security protocols the manufacturer had in place to authenticate callers and verify they were actual police, and also how they validated the warrant or court order used to get the info. The CS person didn’t understand the idea that someone might be pretending to be an officer, nor that even a real officer might be making an unlawful request. She said that if an officer calls and asks, they give them the code. I asked the agent to send me a copy of their policy on this. A day later I got an angry response from the CS lead saying denying what the CS agent said, claiming that they don’t have backdoor codes, and don’t give them out to officers.

Disorderly conduct.

a spokesperson for ETS said that the company “maintains a comprehensive information security program” and that it “continuously invests in safeguarding the systems and data we maintain.”

Comprehensive, but ineffective. Thank god they’re committed to maintaining it that way.

At that age, no. And by the time I got to middle school (age 12 I think) it wasn’t a thing the school did any more.

Although if you wanna talk about brainwashing the kids… they used to do random tests of the air raid sirens (which were often located on the school rooftop). These “tests” were meant to warn us of a nuclear missile attack. If they happened while we were at school, the teachers would tell us it was a test, and we had to get under our desks; same as the earthquake drills. If they happened during summer break while you’re just out riding your bike or playing ball with your friends, you just got to ponder whether it was real or just a test. If you build that fear early, it can be very sticky.

When I was in grade shcool in California in the 70s, we were forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of class each day (very common in school and government functions across the USA at the time), but also in my school, we would follow the pledge with the whole class singing a verse of This Land is your Land. I didn’t understand or appreciate this until many years later.