Virginia police can now force you to unlock your smartphone with your fingerprint

ZDNet Zero Day ^ | October 31, 2014 -- 13:59 GMT | By Zack Whittaker

[Sherman Logan]

So does this mean if you have a biometric lock on your front door they can force you to open it so they can rummage through your domicile?

Well, yes. If they have a warrant. As it has always been.

[MeshugeMikey]

the ever more Brave New World!

[Defiant]

Thanks, that solves the problem. Now, we just need an app that turns off the phone with a simple tap on an icon. No holding the power button and swiping.

[Defiant]

If you have a locked file cabinet, they cannot force you to tell them where the key is, even with a warrant. They can try to break in, but you could install a device that destroys the contents of the cabinet if the lock is bypassed. If a phone is broken into, it also destroys the contents, if you don't unlock it for them.

Sick of having the gestapo among us.

[Vendome]

AES and “Go To Hell! If you think I’m going to generate the second key”...

[Vendome]

Zactly.

The judge is full of Shiite.

[Vendome]

Two Factor Authentication. ...

“Have fun officer. Might as well will my case to your great, great, great grandchildren...”

[Swordmaker]

In fact, the Supreme Court has already ruled that it can't be: Police examination of cell phones without a warrant is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, unanimous, 9-0, Riley v. California (06/25/2014).

Good point. However, a search warrant does not force you to open the door to a safe at your house. Ergo the claim that a passcode makes the phone unsearchable. It can force you to produce papers specifically named. Similarly whatever they are searching for in the "safe" of your phone must specifically name what they want to see. It cannot be a fishing expedition.

How you choose to lock that "safe" should not be a quibble on whether you can force the person who sealed it closed can be forced to open it or not. The intent of locking one's records in a safe vault is what should matter, not how it was done. In the digital world, whether one enters an alpha-numeri-symbolic passcode or uses a digitized passcode or not, BOTH are reduced to numerical locks. BOTH are entered with a finger. How that finger is read should be irrelevant. The intent is to keep the contents safe and secure.

[Rio]

That is an EXCELLENT idea!

[Swordmaker]

Dumb judge...iOS 8/iPhone requires the passcode (not fingerprint) after reboots/power offs...just power off your phone if police are coming your way...problem solved!

I believe it will also require the code after non-use for 48 hours. Yup, just checked. Apple says you must enter your passcode:

• After restarting your device
• When more than 48 hours have elapsed from the last time you unlocked your device
• To enter the Touch ID & Passcode setting

Quickest way is to restart the device if you know they are going to seize it. But, if you do not have control of your iOS device, how long will it take them to get their search warrant for the iPhone/iPad and how long can you hold out and refuse to cooperate???

[FredZarguna]

I agree, but there is not yet a test case that supports that position -- although now there can be.

The post I was responding to claimed this was a warrantless intrusion. No, it isn't.

[Swordmaker]

Always turn phone completely OFF when being pulled over so touch doesn’t work till passcode is entered. Doesn’t touch, not used after 24 or 48 hours require passcode entry as well ?

48 hour non-use requires re-entry of passcode.

[Squantos]

... ok .... knew I had read that somewhere. Thanks !

[Drago]

Then it is time for the “Find my iPhone/Remote Erase” feature!

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2701?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I suppose if they want it bad enough and have a judge on their side to get a warrant, then we’ll get to see if the local PD can get help from the NSA supercomputer to crack Apple’s encryption. ;-)

[null and void]

At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason ~ nully's son

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...

[sport]

If they want to rummage through your domicile, yes. Say no and they will lie to get a search warrant, come back and bust the door down, throw in a few hand grenades, shoot in some teargas and burn your house down.

According to the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, the First 10 Amendments, especially Amendments 4 and 5, they can't do that, right. Wrong. The Government has used the War on Drugs and the War on Terror to emasculate the Constitution. Especially Amendments 4,5. and 6.

The Government [actually its agents] does as it pleases. The sheep does as the Government says.

[null and void]

Worth repeating:

They already legally own your assets, your work products, and even your physical person. But they want to own your mind most of all...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You forgot they would shoot your dog, too.

[sport]

That too, plus beat the hell out of you. But there are those who worship them.

[zeugma]

Then it is time for the “Find my iPhone/Remote Erase” feature!

Even better would be to have a secondary password for the device. If you enter the primary password, it unlocks the phone. If you enter the secondary password, it wipes it.