Chemical-Releasing Bike Lock Causes Vomiting To Deter Thieves (bbc.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BBC: The "Skunklock" is a U-shaped steel bicycle lock with a pressurized, stinking gas inside. The gas escapes in a cloud if someone attempts to cut the lock. The company claims its "noxious chemical" is so disgusting it "induces vomit in the majority of cases." Even better, it claims, the gas causes "shortness of breathing" and impaired eyesight. The idea, which tries to make stealing a bike as unpleasant as possible, is raising money for production on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. "Our formula irreversibly ruins the clothes worn by the thief or any of the protection they may be wearing," the company claims on its crowdfunding page. Since stolen bikes sell for a fraction of their true cost, replacing clothing or equipment could make the theft more trouble than it's worth. Skunklock says it has tested its foul gas, and it even penetrates high-end gas masks -- though most thieves are unlikely to go to such lengths. But the company said that the compressed gas is perfectly safe -- and can only be released "by trying to cut through it with an angle grinder." If the chemical countermeasure is released, it is a one-time only use, and the lock, which costs over $100, will have to be replaced. But the hope is that the unpleasant experience will cause them to abandon the attempted theft, leaving the bicycle behind.

Comments

Legal?

[guruevi]

Is it even legal to use this in any developed country? Any sort of problem (a delay in the mechanism, failure or bystanders) and you got a terrorism charge.

Re:Legal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or an allergic reaction, perm. damage to vision, etc. This is most likely illegal in USA. There have been several cases of booby-trapping in the USA and it has always been grounds for arrest and conviction.

Re:Legal?

[guruevi]

From what it reads, it only works when someone cuts the lock with an angle grinder, meaning it may be something that is ignited by heat in order to work, plenty of circumstances where such ignition could be severely delayed (eg. in cold climates). If it's just compressed gas, any sort of metal issues (fatigue, bad welds or rust) or impact could release it (eg. if the biker gets hit by a car).

Terrorism charge is the first thing that springs to mind what you'd get charged with if this gas either intentionally or accidentally gets released in a public area (such as a bike stand).

Re:Legal?

[Anonymous Coward]

If a police official cut off a lock and got sprayed by that, I wouldn't be surprised to see a DA pressing booby-trap charges, as well as civil charges being files. If a kid is around and sprayed, that would be injury to a child, not to mention some parent suing the living shit out of the buyer of the lock and the lock maker.

Hell with booby traps. My bike isn't cheap, but paying for a criminal defense lawyer who had to deal with the word of a cop (and mind you, almost anywhere in the US, if a cop gives testimony, the jury will go with that, no matter what.) Then, there is the civil charges.

Yes, bike theft sucks, but booby traps are not going to do much, especially with stupid shit like this, where a would-be thief can place a piece of plastic tarp between them and the lock, slice through it with the grinder, take the bike, and hose everything off at the fence's place.

Re:Legal?

[rossdee]

" If you don't want to get sprayed, don't steal bikes!"

It could be used to lock up somebody elses bike
or something else, like a gate

ISIS would be interested for sure

Re:Legal?

[Bruce Perens]

No, of course it is not legal to set a trap to intentionally hurt someone, even if you expect that the trap could only be activated by the person committing property theft or vandalism. Otherwise, you'd see shotguns built into burglar alarms.

Fire alarm stations sometimes shoot a blue dye which is difficult to remove or one which only shows under UV. Never stand in front of one when pulling the lever! But they are not supposed to hurt you.

And of course these booby traps generally are not as reliable as the so-called "inventor" thinks and tend to hurt the innocent.

Re:Legal?

[rtb61]

To explain why it should be illegal. Hey dude, what are you doing with that bike. Crook cuts lock just as the person attempting to stop them gets close. Now that person trying to uphold the law and protect someone's bike, gets the dose, retching and disorientated stumbles back onto the road and gets run over by a bus. Congratulations the crook that actually cut the lock, took off and received a minimal dose and you just killed someone.

If that is not bad enough for you, kids will be kids and the temptation to wear away at the lock so that it will fail just as you the owner try to unlock it, will be irresistible quite a few naughty children. Speaking of wear and tear, why is it, that you think it would be suitable to sell someone and wear and tear time bomb (you could imagine, bringing your bike in, greeting your family and accidentally dropping an old lock hard enough that the seal breaks and wow, will you family not be happy to see you).

Want to ride your bike to places and not have it stolen, start demanding bike lockers in addition to car parks. So open locker, hook up front wheel to raise the bike in a more compact vertical position, shut locker and insert $1 coin, set combination, timer starts, get back in time or locker opens and advertises bike for sale ;). You could squeeze quite a few lockers in two carparks. Counting numbers of customers, 2 inconvenienced to provide for 30 customers and not that expensive, say $250 a locker, last pretty much a life time, apart from the lock :(. What to accelerate installations, demand legislation to require bike lockers at all retail locations (number of bike lockers required per number of car parks, for planning requirements those lockers spaces should still count as car parks, car parks are really expensive to put in, far and away more expensive than most people think). The do really need to be vertical though, so push front wheel onto hook and rotate large counter weighted lever, to raise and rotate bike into vertical position.

Re: Legal?

[physicsphairy]

Surely it is very clearly marked "will release noxious gas if cut" and is therefore not a boobytrap? As far as I'm aware you can, e.g., electrify a fence, you just have to put up appropriate signage. It is cheaper and more effective to deter thieves from trying the lock in the first place than to actually release the gas.

Re:Legal?

[mlts]

This. For the cost of this project on the crowdfunding site, maybe that money should go towards a fund to get bike lockers placed in useful places. The biggest pushback I see about bike lockers, next to the implementation cost, is concern about people putting stuff they shouldn't in them. However, between having lockers like the ProPark View-Thru (which allow visual inspections) or registering people before handing them a key, this becomes a non-issue, about the same risk of people bringing the same stuff into the office.

It really doesn't take that much to make a place in a building for bikes for all but the smallest companies. A room with a camera or two, card access, a row of lockers so people could put their helmet and a change of clothes, and a row of bike racks is definitely good enough. Bonus points if there are showers available.

Part of the problem in the US is that European bike shelters tend not to work here, as they tend to be a target of vandalism. An automatic bike lift would be destroyed in almost no time flat. So, even though bike lockers take up a lot of space, they are a low common denominator, relatively tough to break in, and provide decent security, especially for overnight or all day use.

To heck with booby traps. If you want something that actually will add security, spend the money to start (or promote an existing) advocacy group to get lockers places in more places. This would be real progress, and allow for far better security, as opposed to gimmicks [1].

[1]: There are tons of bike lock designs out there, be it those that use Bluetooth apps, traveling keys, magnetic locks, but the real issue isn't the U-lock, it is putting the bike inside of a secure container so no part of the bike is accessible to a thief.

Re: Legal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol. I can picture you internet tough guy with your dorito-encrusted dribbling chin. I bet you shit your pants at the GTA loading screen.

Re: Legal?

[Hognoxious]

Watch out - he's a 2nd Dan in keyboardarate!

Re:Legal?

[thegarbz]

To explain why it should be illegal. Hey dude, what are you doing with that bike. Crook cuts lock just as the person attempting to stop them gets close. Now that person trying to uphold the law and protect someone's bike, gets the dose, retching and disorientated stumbles back onto the road and gets run over by a bus. Congratulations the crook that actually cut the lock, took off and received a minimal dose and you just killed someone.

With that contrived example I'm sure we could make everything illegal! That shopping you just did? A bag snatcher comes past and rips the bag out of your hand. You drop all the apples which roll a few meters and someone steps on one, slips backwards, stumbles into to traffic, and this entire concept that someone is held liable for this death is entirely retarded.

Re: Legal?

[Gavagai80]

If it's clearly marked, 10 cent stickers saying "will release noxious gas if cut" are going to be much better sellers than the $100 lock.

Re:Legal?

[TheCarp]

Your not wrong per se, but that is about the dumbest contrived example of why I can imagine. Now.... lets stop stroking the marketing pricks ego and admit the real scenario.

Nobody is angle grinding your fucking bike lock. There will almost always be an easier bike to steal and the majority of bike thieves are not walking around with power tools. Look right at the statements of the company: "and can only be released "by trying to cut through it with an angle grinder.

Its "completely safe" because....that is almost never going to happen.

More realistic... you lock up your bike somewhere its not supposed to be, and go inside some place. You get drunk and end up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning....now the city comes by to cut your lock and guess who gets gassed?

Ruined bike?

[Anonymous Coward]

Won't the bike itself be equally tainted by this chemical?

Re:Ruined bike?

[sexconker]

No, because it's a crowd funding project. It won't ever see the light of day in any working form.

what?

[geoskd]

Our formula irreversibly ruins the clothes worn by the thief or any of the protection they may be wearing

What about the bike? Doesn't this ruin the bike?

Re:what?

[SeaFox]

What about the bike? Doesn't this ruin the bike?

I'm sure it will be perfectly operational for the owner to enjoy after the lock is triggered... just like an automobile runs fine after a skunk sprays the interior.

Re:what?

[waynemcdougall]

Our formula irreversibly ruins the clothes worn by the thief or any of the protection they may be wearing

What about the bike? Doesn't this ruin the bike?

We had to destroy the bike in order to save it.

I love the smell of Skunklock in the morning. It's the smell of.....victory.

I bet

[93 Escort Wagon]

I can defeat this with a roll of duct tape.

Re:I bet

[rsilvergun]

Wouldn't you have to cut through the duct tape?

Gas Chamber ruins integrity of lock

[Nyder]

By putting in a chamber to hold the gas, you then ruin the integrity of the lock by make the metal weaker and easier to cut thru.

If I am stealing bikes, like I did when I was a junkie, puking isn't going to stop me from finishing the job and grabbing the bike. By putting in the gas, you made it easier to cut thru the lock, so I'm guessing it won't stop as many people as you think.

Sounds familiar

[ClickOnThis]

Perhaps this invention will win the IgNobel prize for Peace, like the flame-throwing car alarm did in 1999.

Re:Yes its probably illegal

[DaHat]

Which makes sense for a $50 bike perhaps.

A friend had ~$600 worth of bike & stuff stolen last month after his $25 lock was cut.

He since purchased a replacement bike (similar price) but has upgraded to a $50 lock this time around... and claims that it is easier for the thief to simply cut whatever the bike is locked to than the lock... which still suggests some vulnerabilities, even with the lock in TFA.

How long...

[xlsior]

...Until someone decides to be "funny" and uses such a lock to chain up someone else's bike/door/whatever? Good luck regaining access to your own property without getting maced in the process...

Re:Yes its probably illegal

[Jeremi]

... and 5 years later, it is sold on Craigslist for $50.

... by a guy who smells suspiciously like skunk.

Re:available soon in your High School

[Mr D from 63]

They've invented the perfect chastity belt, and don't even realize it.