The locks left in the chain links of Paris’s iconic Pont des Arts bridge have long been contentious–they were seen as an eyesore, a tourist trap, and a threat to the structural integrity of the bridge, as the weight of hundreds upon hundreds of metal locks weighed down the balustrades. Romantics see the love locks as a symbol of commitment, but locals see them as a form of littering. The city began removing the locks en masse last year but the “love lock trend” still exists across Paris and has spread to practically every major city with an attractive set of bridges. Yet as of this month, the Parisian locks will take on a new identity–they are being bundled together and auctioned for charity, specifically to raise money for refugees living in Paris.

The auction is slated for the spring of 2017 and Bruno Julliard, first deputy mayor of Paris, expects to raise approximately 100,000 euros for the refugee community–but there have been no specific plans released for which organizations will receive the profits. Nor has there been a clear outline of what specifically the money would go toward. Refugees are in need of shelter, food, medical care and supplies, legal representation, job training and placement–which of these efforts will be prioritized when the love lock funds roll in?

Julliard has essentially two options before him: donate a massive sum to a single organization, or donate multiple small amounts to the various charities working to secure housing and employment for the thousands of refugees living in Paris. The general statement Julliard released made a vague reference toward funding “organizations” (plural not singular) working to support refugees in Paris but gave no information about whether that means local, neighborhood organizations or larger, international charities. If several different organizations are going to receive funding, then orchestrating the auction becomes a much more challenging task. What if those bidding on the locks only want to give to certain charities that are benefitting from the funds and not others?

While several small donations to multiple causes can help with immediate issues like purchasing supplies, there is an economic argument that a one-time large donation to a single organization will be more impactful in the long run. However, the true efficacy of the donation has more to do with how the organization spends it money than the sum itself. The websites Givewell and CharityNavigator  only exist because we have seen charities mishandle funds time and again, making us wary of where we donate our money.

At the moment, the sale of the love locks may read as a feel-good publicity stunt but if the auction truly does raise the money that Julliard expects, the funds will become an object of public debate, with every non-profit that even tangentially works with refugees looking for a grant and every anti-refugee National Front supporter arguing that the funds should be spent elsewhere. Unless there is a clear plan of which charity the money is going to and how it will be spent when it gets there, the love lock auction will be, at best, a shallow gesture that does not effectively help Paris’s refugees.

Jillian Sequeira

Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

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The evolution of 3D printing promises to be a technological revolution, but it also may lead to some serious security concerns. One big issue is the ability to replicate something seen in a picture on a 3D printer. For example, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials have access to master keys that can unlock any TSA-approved luggage locks–and now because the blueprints were leaked online, those keys can be replicated by someone who has a 3D printer as well.

Estimates believe that more than 300 million locks were compromised by the leak. The locks that are sold as “TSA friendly” often appear in duty-free or other travel shops and labeled as such. They’re popular because they allow fliers to lock their belongings with the peace of mind that the TSA won’t rip their bags trying to get in them.

A picture of the master keys that the TSA officers use was part of a recent Washington Post article that discussed TSA procedures when it comes to luggage. Although the pictures were taken down after the realization that this was a major security breach, the damage was done. After all, researchers have determined that keys can reproduced from a picture taken over 200 feet away.

The pictures were used to derive blueprints that could be used to make 3D printed keys. Those blueprints were leaked by a man based out of France named Stephen K., who posted the files on GitHub, a site that can be used to host and share these kinds of files. He told PCMag:

I made [the keys] for the technical challenge. I released [the] CAD files because I’m a partisan of full disclosure, and also because these kind of government backdoors are totally absurd in 2015.

He also told WIRED:

Honestly I wasn’t expecting this to work, even though I tried to be as accurate as possible from the pictures. I did this for fun and don’t even have a TSA-approved lock to test. But if someone reported it that my 3D models are working, well, that’s cool, and it shows…how a simple picture of a set of keys can compromise a whole system

At least one man, Bernard Bolduc, from Montreal has printed the keys based off of the blueprints and tested them, determining that they do work.

OMG, it’s actually working!!! pic.twitter.com/rotJPJqjTg

— Bernard Bolduc (@bernard) September 9, 2015

This is obviously a concerning discovery that doesn’t just stop with the fact that it might be a little bit easier for thieves to get into our baggage. Protecting blueprints to keys, or like devices, is more important than ever, as the technology to replicate them continues to become fine-tuned. While the TSA hasn’t commented on this breach yet, this news doesn’t look good for the much-beleaguered travel security agency.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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