Sure, traditional finance is also subject to powerful forms of financial tracking. (Though in some respects, Bitcoin is even less private: https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blo...) Monero is designed not to be, and that is pretty clearly the contrast I'm describing here.
Author of the article here. Can't help but ask: Do you not believe that Bitcoin's blockchain sometimes allows powerful forms of financial tracking? Are you aware there's a whole industry that of companies designed to do exactly this?
To address your points: I'm not sure where to find someone with this expensive machine. I know where to find Shapeways.com pretty easily. And as I wrote above regarding your second paragraph, a precisely-printed key surely is more reliable (and easier to make) than the bent sheet metal and grocery loyalty cards.
I agree this argument is silly. Whether an Ikon SK6 lock is considered "umbumpable" and by who is pretty subjective. But this thread began with a commenter saying that none of this is news, and that it's all 50 years old. Hyperbole is indeed pretty annoying.
Yeah, the story doesn't mention printing anything from your own $1,000 printer. Shapeways sells much higher quality 3D printing as a service, which is why these guys used it.
How much does that Easy Entrie machine cost? I'm seeing something like $10,000. A 3D-printed bump key ordered from Shapeways costs $5, and surely works better for obscure keyways than the ad hoc stuff you're describing.
Author of the story here. Like I wrote, 3D printed bump keys make locks that weren't easily bumpable in the past more easily bumpable. That's not a 50 year-old idea. Likewise, if your 3D-printed lock picking tools were more effective than the traditional kind, than yes, I might write about them, too.
The DHS was totally dishonest with me in their comments on the initially story, and less than fully honest even in their subsequent follow-up response to my questions. I was disappointed that only a fraction of the readers who read the first post noticed the second, so I'm glad hammock below was able to point out the DHS's contradictions.