[Noisebridge-discuss] Access control and the DJ booth

[Dr. Jesus]

There was some discussion earlier tonight about putting a gate on the
DJ booth. Although I wasn't planning on doing it anytime soon, I
thought I'd write up my thoughts to prompt some discussion because I'm
not sure I covered all the details earlier tonight.

Basically, I thought it would be nice if we repurposed one of the
gates and installed it in front of an enclosed area, probably the DJ
booth.  I don't know whether I should install a lock or not, but if I
did it would be keyed to the same key used for the rest of the locks
at Noisebridge.  Door access would be audited by timestamp only, so
anonymity concerns would only apply to the same degree they did with
noisedoor (and no one has complained to me so far.)

Locks in the space are a touchy subject, which is why I mention using
the door keys.  This requires people who want access to the resources
in there to participate in the existing web of trust model we use for
access to the rest of the space.  It's not strong security by any
means: I'm sure someone's going to program the makerbot to spit out
keys in the near future.  Think of it more as an IQ test.  I honestly
don't know whether the idea of installing a lock keyed to the door
keys is offensive, so apologies in advance if it is.  The alternative
is using an unlocked doorknob set and that's nearly as good, since the
main thing about the gate is it provides a fixture on which a magnetic
access sensor can be installed.

There are several justifications for doing this.  First of all, it
allows the computers hosted there to be troubleshot more effectively
because the door access can be correlated with system failures.
Today, it is not possible to reliably tell the difference between a
hardware problem and someone using the machines for self education.
There have already been two such situations at 2169: the DSL modem
resetting and storage problems on pony.

Second, it allows people who want to temporarily store expensive or
medically related things at Noisebridge to have a some level of
assurance that access to the gear is mostly limited to people included
in the existing web of trust built out of the physical key
distribution.  For example, when we host an event there will sometimes
be objects present in the space which cannot comply with our general
policy of being available for hacking.  Again, this is not so much
about securing the gear as making sure that there's a mechanism for
knowing -- possibly in real time -- when someone's been in there.  If
what I heard about the last party is true, I think our average
gathering might be pretty chaotic and it might be a good idea to have
some island of stability where we can put things without worrying
about drunken partygoers.

Third, I think it would be a good idea to have a backup fire
extinguisher, flashlight, and first aid kit in an area with access
logging just in case the ones in the space are tampered with.  Sure,
there's no guarantee that someone's not going to screw with the
backups too, but I think it's less likely to happen accidentally due
to chair hockey.  I also think it would be nice if the safety critical
controllers like the fire and flood alarms are access audited so that
when access is logged unexpectedly someone can go check them out to
make sure a rat didn't get in there and eat them.  Being able to trust
the integrity of those controllers isn't just nice, it has real world
financial consequences.  I don't want to give an adjuster an excuse to
bone us on a claim because we don't have reliable safety equipment in
the space.  This is doubly important if we get that laser cutter that
was discussed recently.

Fourth, I found myself needing to have a private conversation earlier
tonight on my netbook and I couldn't find a place at 2169 where there
was reliable Internet, privacy, and distance from the noise being made
on the far side of the space.  In my case the bathroom would have
raised some uncomfortable questions since it was a video chat.  I'm
sure other people might find it convenient to have a place to have
less than public conversations as well.

The bottom line is, do you care and if you do, do you want the gate to
be lockable or not?  Please vote along with your (civil) comments.  If
this rubs you the wrong way and you'd like to tell me to eat a dick,
let's keep that off the mailing list.  I can send you my mailing
address for cock-related packages privately.

To preempt some points I think might come up:

 - Yes, I have been treating parts of the DJ booth as my personal
shelf, mainly because I had to store a few bulky and easy to lose
items I'm using for working with the locks and controllers.  Most of
those will go away in the near future because they're going to be
bolted to a wall somewhere.  I'm planning on continuing to keep the
remaining items (lock rekeying set, repair kit, glassware) out of the
way in the DJ booth and have any personal projects on a regular shelf
elsewhere.

 - I am in no way married to the idea of enclosing the DJ booth in
particular for satisfying the use cases above.  Any other area would
be fine.

 - Yes, even without locking the gate, adding access logging could be
interpreted as a lack of mutual trust between members and our guests
and this could have a chilling effect on our interactions.  I'm not
going to rebut this because that interpretation is an opinion.
However, I should point out that we did basically the same thing at
83c on a coarser scale with noisedoor and as far as I know that
chilling effect didn't occur.

 - Yes, I know the current staircase is mechanically incompatible with
the available gates.