Local Meetings At UT

[dougfarre]

Dear LLPC members,

The new website, http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/llpc/ is updated now. Meetings are 6:30-8:30 on:

Friday, October 26
Monday, October 29

Friday, November 16
Monday, November 19

MacGyver can open a combo lock with a Swiss army knife and a soda can - we will be using scissors. The October meeting will be an overview of basic lock picking and we will be making shims. For all members - we are instituting a points system. We have security locks available to pick, the more locks you pick and the faster you pick them, the more points you get. The prize(s) will be awarded next semester. If you still don't have a set of picks, we ordered ~ 50 so get them as soon as you can. We will also be selling t-shirts that make great gifts for family members. Your membership dues are for last semester, this semester and a bonus Spring 08 semester -nice.

See you at the meetings.

Michael Boyle

[jgor]

I'm excited! We have a great group of officers this year, and a lot of good ideas for making the meetings even more exciting for newcomers and returning members alike. If you're in the Austin area definitely come check us out, see the website for meeting details.

[raimundo]

someone bring bandaids for mcgyver, please, hes gonna make a tin can shim.

[jgor]

Well, besides the officers, a grand total of 3 people showed up to the meeting. Heh, apparently the majority of people have better things to do on a Friday night than sit in a room picking locks...go figure. The people who did show up had a great time though, i think.

I still get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside every time i show someone how to open a Master combo lock with only a coke can and a pair of scissors

[dougfarre]

After a bit more advertising today we had about 15 people show up. And 9 new members. Hopefully by next meeting we can fill the whole room! Not bad for only 1 day of advertising. Check out the pictures on our website http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/llpc/pict ... 71029.html

We also had an interesting run in with the campus police today while we were advertising on campus. It seems that the police department received 5 calls from concerned students and staff because we were advertising in public. We spoke to the "Director of Crime Prevention" for the UT Poilice Department. He was very knowledgeable about locks and explained to us his concerns about our organization. He is a hobbiest lockpicker himself and we talked about everything from abus to handcuffs. He was very interested and very friendly. However, he told us we should be taking more precautions before allowing people into our club. We need to perform background checks on our members. And look at peoples drivers licenses when they are filling our their membership forums. He said that there are many people on campus that have learned techniques online and are using them for criminal purposes. He doesn't think our organization poses a sever threat, but imagines that it is better to be safe than sorry.

He also said that a member of the police department would now be attending all of our meetings so they could stay informed about our activities. Now this could be interesting. It could be good and bad. Good, because i think that any member of the police department would probably have blast at our meetings, considering everyone that shows up ends up having a blast regardless.

Bad, because they are trying to limit what we do during our meetings. They made it clear we are not to talk about certain things, and that we should speak to them about what we are going to be discussing during a certain meeting, before the meeting occurs.

We have mixed feelings about this! What does everyone else think!?

[digital_blue]

Bad, because they are trying to limit what we do during our meetings. They made it clear we are not to talk about certain things, and that we should speak to them about what we are going to be discussing during a certain meeting, before the meeting occurs.

We have mixed feelings about this! What does everyone else think!?

What, specifically, are they asking you to not speak about?

Here's my take on it. I think that we (as an organization) should be embracing any interest that comes by way of law enforcement, and actively inviting them into the club meetings.

However, when it comes to allowing them to dictate our content, I believe it is fair to ask them to cite specific legislation if they feel that we are operating outside of the law. This should be handled delicately, and with a courteous attitude.

Play the game with them, be receptive to any concerns they have, but at the end of the day, it shouldn't compromise what we do with our hobby because of someone's opinion or speculation. However, at all times, we do abide by local and state laws. Let's make sure we're doing so.

db

[dougfarre]

He asked us not to give out shims. And last year he told us not to talk about bump keys. But we are going to "keep in touch" so he knows what are plans are in the future.

Legally, what we are doing is fine. But I want to wait it out and see what happens before i start arguing my points.