Knowledge is power

Knowledge transfer has been the reason for the progress we've been having given the limited time we have on earth. First it was through verbal tradition, then through paper, and now through digital technology.

However, there are some information that, as some people would say, dangerous. Learning about music theory, computer technology, etc surely would not produce any negative externalities to the world community - but it would actually create positive effects, but would information about how to pick locks and the like help our community progress.

In London, some people asked the removal of videos on YouTube that shows how to pick locks. It was said in an internet article that there has been cases where there has been a burglary but there were no signs of forced entry which made police conclude that a key was used. The article infers that the sprout of these type of videos might be one of the reasons.

True enough, if you try to search YouTube for lock picking videos, the return would show about 400 videos. However, If you read the comments section, it seems like lock picking is only a hobby for these people. Moreover, these videos could also produce some benefit to householders since they are given the means of evaluate the security measures they have taken for their homes, just like how the bugs and the viruses (etc) that plagues our computers produce the countermeasures that programmers are forced to make out of necessity.

Then again, not all of the effects of unrestricted information can be countered as long as there are irresponsible people lurking out there. The least that we should ask for is some restriction mechanism that webmasters should create in order to at least filter out persons who would most likely be irresponsible.