Getting Duplicate Fobs

I was recently served a cease & desist letter by an HOA attorney

Just a couple weeks ago, I had posted about offering duplicates for members of our neighborhood because the price ($50) is exorbitant and there are many lower cost options in the market. Being able to do this in the community, and offer this at a much lower cost ($15) was something within my skill set and it was done to “help thy neighbor”. I was not turning any profit on this, and doing it at my cost only for materials (the blank fobs and the equipment for duplication). Before I set out to offer this openly, I checked the laws concerning key/fob duplication to ensure doing so would be legal. I also contacted a locksmith and asked if duplication of such fobs had any legal repercussions and was told that so long as the key or fob was not stamped “Do Not Duplicate”, and there was no precise wording in any lease/issuance agreement explicitly stating in exact language “Do Not Duplicate”, that I was free to make duplicates of any fob or key legally.

Here are the documents that I searched and read thoroughly that did not contain the magic clause forbidding duplication:

The Bridgeberry Pool Fob Form and the Amenity Rules and Regulations documents did not say anywhere that duplication was forbidden, and these words would need to be present to legally forbid any duplication according to the locksmith resource I inquired with. Though the HOA document portal is somewhat of an organizational mess, I did check the other folders and documents within and could not find prohibitive duplication clauses present in those places either. The documents referenced above were the place that defined most of the rules concerning amenity access and fob use.

After doing this initial research, I also noted that places like Lowes, Home Depot, etc already offer key and fob duplication, just as I was planning to offer as a neighborly convenience for Bridgeberry residents. You can get your fob duplicated by bringing your original to one of these places, and it seems the current duplication offering only costs $25. Not as cheap as the $15 I was charging per unit, but again, that’s because I offered it at cost, with no markup.

Just last week, I was served this letter from the attorney representing our HOA demanding that I

• stop creating duplicates of FOBs in Bridgeberry
• remove the information page about offering duplication
• retrieve all duplicate fobs I made for Bridgeberry residents

I have fully complied with the attorney’s request as a show of good faith and cooperation. But I’ll be damned if I stand idly by and allow them to easily abuse us by charging the exorbitant fee they currently charge! That is why I am writing this today. It is my/our right under free speech to discuss this here and point people to alternatives even if I can’t help provide the alternative directly. I strongly believe in free market principles and that if a lesser expensive option exists in the market, that people should be free to choose where they spend their dollars. Each and every one of you, can decide what you’d like to do, and do it privately. I am a seasoned subject matter expert on control systems. I have installed and setup name brand systems, and even designed my own from scratch. I know just about EVERYTHING there is to know about the security and weaknesses of these systems, and how the fobs work, and that knowledge goes down to the electronic component and software code levels! As such, the letter from the attorney claims that my actions allow non residents or those with no access right access to our amenities. This claim is FALSE and simply untrue. The technological knowledge I command is superior to the attorney’s or the HOA. The FACTS are:

• Your duplicate is an EXACT clone of the original in EVERY way. Therefore, the holder of the original already had access. Unlike what the letter states, by copying a fob, I was not bestowing access to anyone beyond what was already granted by the HOA via the original! Their claim is FALSE.
• If the HOA were to revoke your amenties privilege, your duplicates would also be revoked as they share the exact same electronic ID that your original has. This FACT shows that the HOA retains FULL CONTROL of any granted access. There is simply NO WAY my actions ever provided access to someone who was not allowed.
• the security checks I did BEFORE making your duplicates, ensured that I was only duplicating the fob of a legitimate Bridgeberry resident. In fact, I had turned a couple people away because they did not produce the required ID (valid drivers license AND recent utility bill showing a matching name and bridgeberry address).
• Every duplicate made was the responsibility of the owner. I made sure you all understood this BEFORE I created your copies.
• Your fob’s electronic ID was never retained/recorded by me, only your first name & driver’s license number so that I could track who requested/got copies.
• The HOA has no way to tell who is using a copied fob or original. They ALL read the same way at the gate as the original. I know this as pure technological FACT!

I will say that when I offered this, I went the extra mile to verify and prove who each of you were before performing any duplication, as an added measure of security. I can tell you that many of the providers in the market DO NOT bother doing this, therefore my offering was a more secure offering, even at a lower price. But alas, I am not going to fight this battle. There are other battles I would reserve this effort for, like maybe an outside 3rd party audit of the HOA books for a start!

Perhaps the HOA might consider reducing the price of additional fobs to something fair & reasonable, and there would be no need or desire for folks to seek competitive options. That is something they could do.

Lastly, it is clear that they DO in fact read our website (contrary to their claim) as it didn’t take long for them to respond to me.