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Cops can force suspect to unlock phone with thumbprint, US court rules
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
479 points (98.6% liked)
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I love the confidence that a US cop or CBP agent are going to allow you to lock your phone while they're asking you to hand it to them.
Biometrics is not security. Biometrics is ease of access. It's literally designed to make your phone easier to access for you and by extension for a low skilled strong arm attacker or jack booted neo-fascist police state cop or border agent, a high skilled hacker, or a nation state actor. If your intention is to make your device easy to access, congratulations, biometrics is the right choice.
It's not that hard. See the lights on behind you, pull over and lock your phone.
Ok. Do that.
https://gizmodo.com/stop-using-your-face-or-thumb-to-unlock-your-phone-1851438205
They're not ninjas dropping out of trees at random moments demanding your phone.
What is the scenario that you're picturing here where the person with the phone had literally no warning and no time to activate the lockdown? Turning your phone off takes like 5 seconds.
Is it technically less secure? Yes.
Is there any reason for the vast majority of people to assume they will ever be in an arrest situation where they won't have adequate time to turn off their phone? No.
I'm all for being paranoid and cautious but this idea that convenience must always bow to absolute security is an absolute pox on the tech industry. There is such a thing a reasonable risk. You're engaging in that yourself for even owning a mobile device that some jack booted neofacist could pluck out of your hands.
"Hand me your phone, please."
Bless your heart. Those bad people will just beat the password out of you without sweating.
Did you read the article? US police and CBP can point your phone at your face or force your finger onto the scanner to unlock your device against your will.
Did you read the quoted part of my comment?
I did better than read it, I wrote it but more importantly I understood it.