The Keys To Anamosa State Penitentiary Are for Sale…
…or rather, were for sale, on eBay. Longtime reason reader Mark Lambert ("something like 20 plus years" by his count) sends along news of a most unusual auction on eBay:
Keys to the Anamosa State Penitentiary are for sale on the Internet site, prompting a change of locks at the eastern Iowa prison.
The keys belonged to a locksmith who retired from the prison in 1974. He died two years later and when his wife died last year, an auctioneer was hired to sell off the estate, which included the keys.
Someone bought the keys and put them on eBay. The person who is selling keys claim some still work….
[Warden Jerry] Burt said some locks at the maximum-security prison have been changed since 1974 while others haven't, prompting the recent change.
The keys are no longer listed at eBay, though you can pick up a copy of Anamosa State's handbook for inmates for $2.
Question: Is this Internet tubes thing a powerful force for decentralizing and democratizing power, or is just sending us to hell in a handbasket (via slow-motion auctions and stuff sent via first class U.S. mail)?
And when are the keys to the nuclear football going to show up on eBay?