Kinah won't

One of the most spectacular competitions of last year’s Positive Hack Days 2011 forum was the “ Bear Bear ” competition, during which anyone could get training and try his hand at breaking into various locks. The winners, as usual, received souvenirs and universal recognition, but we got all the necessary tools from our own home collections.

Last year, everything went well, and the winners of the competition were Gleb Shepelev, Vitaly Glinsky and Kirill Tyurin. When drafting the Positive Hack Days 2012 competition program, there was not even a shadow of doubt which competition would be one of the hits. But it was not the case: the legislation of the Russian Federation introduced its own corrections ... Details under the cut.

So, the competition called Lock Picking is a non-destructive opening of locks. Anyone is allowed to participate, whether it is an experienced bear cub or an absolute beginner.
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As an “white hat” with experience, before we did something good, we decided to check whether it is not in conflict with the law.

And - voila! - it turned out that the Federal Law of 07.12.2011 No. 420- excluded part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation from the text of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. 138, which previously sounded as follows: “Illegal production, sale or purchase of special technical equipment intended for secretly obtaining information, is punishable by a fine of up to two hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to eighteen months, or restriction of liberty for a term of up to three years, or imprisonment for a term of up to three years with the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years. ”

The same law introduces a new Art. 138.1:

“Article 138.1. Illegal circulation of special technical equipment intended for secretly obtaining information

Illegal production, purchase and (or) sale of special technical equipment intended for secretly obtaining information - is punishable by a fine of up to two hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of the salary or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to eighteen months, or by restriction of liberty for up to four years, or forced labor for up to four years with the deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years or without it, or deprivation of freedom for up to four years with the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years or without one. ”



What does all this have to do with locks and lock picks? This article was introduced in December 2011 and there are no official comments on it yet. But taking into account the fact that the wording about “special technical means intended for secretly obtaining information” has not changed, lawyers advised by analogy to apply comments to the deleted article to part 3 of Art. 183 code.

In the comments, it is suggested that by special technical means “means intended, developed, adapted or programmed for secretly obtaining information”. At the same time, according to the same official comments, “the list of types of special technical equipment intended for secretly obtaining information in the process of carrying out operational investigative activities is established by the Government of the Russian Federation.”

In accordance with this list, one of the types of special technical means are the means for secret penetration and inspection of premises, vehicles and other objects (including master keys).

The composition of the crime is formal. The crime is completed from the moment of the commission of the act violating the indicated secret, or the execution of actions for the production, sale or purchase of technical means intended for secretly obtaining information. This crime can only be committed with an intentional form of guilt .

It should also be borne in mind that by illegal marketing, acquisition and production, the legislator understands the implementation of these actions without a permit (license). Find a company that has a license to sell master keys task from the field of fiction. In addition, even if the seller were found, it would be a criminal offense to buy a master key from him! We do not need this.

Sadly But maybe there is a way ...?


We decided not to give up and kept looking for a solution. An idea arose to ask any of the foreign speakers (for example, Bruce Schneier :)) to bring everything necessary, but even this turned out to be impossible, since clause 3 of provision 2.17 “On the procedure for importing into the customs territory of the customs union and exporting from the customs territory of the customs union of technical means intended for secretly obtaining information ”it is said:“ The import and export of special technical equipment to the territory of the Member States of the customs union by individuals is not allowed. ”

Summing up the legal research, we say only that we needed to answer the following questions.

1. Can a master key for locks be referred to as special technical means intended for secretly obtaining information?

Yes maybe.

2. What acts with a master key are not a crime according to art. 138.1 of the Criminal Code? Is there a legal way to use the master key without a license, which is not subject to Art. 138.1 of the Criminal Code?

Criminal liability can be avoided only if the lock key was not produced by us, acquired (for example, we collect them, and they fall into the collection as a gift or a random find), and at the same time we don’t show our master key to sell , but just keep it for collection and sometimes show to third parties.

In other words, our competition was balanced on a very fine line. Moreover, reinforced concrete “against” turned out to be more than timid “for”. After a long discussion, it was decided to cancel the competition this year. We were crying a glass cube, which we were going to fill with money for the final of the competition.



PS In spite of everything, we have prepared many interesting contests in which you can take part. Information about them will appear in the near future. Follow the news!