[USA] Appeals court rules that cops can physically make you unlock your phone
[USA] Appeals court rules that cops can physically make you unlock your phone
The 9th Circuit determined that forcibly mashing a suspect's thumb into his phone to unlock it was akin to fingerprinting him at the police station.
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And this is why you never, ever, EVER enable biometrics. EVER. Make a damn password or at least a very long PIN and enter that shit every time.
For people who don't want to do that: turn off your phone if there's the likelihood that your phone will be confiscated soon (crossing a state border or getting a perquisition). This will
- Disable biometrics
- Encrypt everything
On Android, entering lockdown mode does the same thing. You can do it by pressing volume-up and power at the same time, then tapping Lockdown.
Not all phones work that way. Just tried it on mine btw
On iOS you tap power 5 times.
And this only makes it more expensive and time consuming to unlock. So if you're small fry, they won't waste the resources. But if you are a "person of interest" don't be dumb, bring a burner phone.
Completely agree. There are a surprising number of folks who should know better who will swear up and down how safe they are. If they like the convenience and the "cool factor" of using them....that's fine, whatever, none of my business. Just don't try to gaslight me that they are safe.
Or power it off when they ask for it to disable biometric unlock.
Not always an option. Sometimes reaching for your phone to turn it off will get you killed. Just don't use biometrics.