[potatolicious]

> "I think that this article represents the need for digital locks."

I disagree. We are talking about keys to critical infrastructure - fire doors, elevator overrides, utility areas of subway systems.

These are all resources that need to be accessible in a power outage or disaster situation. I do not want our firemen to be locked out of where they need to go because some digital lock lost power.

There is a reason in traditional engineering emergency overrides and shutoffs are mechanically implemented and don't go through a computer.

[jl6]

Digital lock with built in dynamo (pull down lever?) to generate the miniscule power required to operate it?

[potatolicious]

Some horrifying disaster happens in New York, the subway tunnels are flooded. Fire crews need access to a locked/gated area, but your dynamo'ed electronic door lock is completely kaput.

The whole point of this critical infrastructure is that it be accessible in an emergency and have as few failure modes as possible. A mechanical lock has very few failure modes short of changing the laws of physics.

[sadga]

Fire crews have bolt cutters to handle the common case of a door with a small lock of any sort.

[dlitz]

How reliable is that?