Cops can force suspect to unlock phone with thumbprint, US court rules
Cops can force suspect to unlock phone with thumbprint, US court rules
Ruling: Thumbprint scan is like a "blood draw or fingerprint taken at booking."
The legal situation is more complex and nuanced than the headline implies, so the article is worth reading. This adds another ruling to the confusing case history regarding forced biometric unlocking.
Reminder that on an iPhone, if you hold the Volume Up and Power buttons simultaneously for several seconds, the phone will vibrate and will require the PIN or password next time you unlock it, not Face/TouchID. This happens whether the screen is on or off, so you can discretely do it in your pocket.
Basically every Android also has a variation of this
Absent an idiotic carrier/mfg skin that disables the feature, you just long-press power then click "lockdown".
Or reboot the device. Rebooting the device will also leave it encrypted if your device has encryption (the PIN/password is needed to decrypt, essentially).
Not sure about all phone models, but at least with mine, if I switch it off then it requires a PIN, rather than biometrics, upon being switched back on. Thus if the police arrive, immediately switching off your phone could be a sensible thing to do
Restarting phone as well so the same thing
On iPhone, maybe Android too, you click the power button 5 times and you have enter the pin.
Also, just going to the power off slider screen will force a passcode reentry.
Watch out I guess, because that opens the Emergency SOS page on my OnePlus phone and, if I have an additional setting toggled, automatically phones emergency services... the phone does not lock
This isn't new. I've been on the passcode to unlock train for a long time because of this. It's only news in that it's been codified by the court. You can't be compelled to reveal info.
On iPhone: press and hold the lock button and either volume button for 1-2sec. It'll force a passcode despite biometrics.
I hate Siri, but you can do a "Hey Siri, whose phone is this?" and it will force PIN unlock. Great if you aren't able to physically touch the phone.
You can also turn your phone off. Phones require a passcode after booting up.
Or use wrong finger for multiple times untill its locked out with pin password
Careful locking your device before the cops get there. It could be considered tampering with evidence.
In the States police can bust you on false charges and it will typically (but not always) fly in court.
They also have strong phone cracking software, despite what FBI says about piles of evidence locked away in phones.
Even if this is true, and I'm not arguing that it isn't, if you've committed a different crime with a worse punishment, you'll have to take that into consideration.
Makes perfect sense to me (not a lawyer, not a US person)... what doesn't make sense is how many people still think biometric is high security (maybe because of how cool they make it look in the movies?)
Idk… you being forced to use your body against your will to reveal secret and private things sounds pretty awful to me
Idk… you being forced to use your body against your will to reveal secret and private things sounds pretty awful to me
Hopefully it gets overturned and your compulsion to stick your finger on the devices requires a warrant.
I'm in partial agreement with @[email protected], they should be allowed to take your fingerprint and then apply that fingerprint to a device. Or get a warrant to make you stick you finger on the device. Recording your fingerprint is just collecting data to investigate a crime, it generates a record. Sticking your finger on a device is making you participate in the investigation, and generates no investigative record other than "device did/didn't unlock".
Biometric is high security against thieves and nosy girlfriends, not kidnappers or cops apparently. You need to be physically present for most of them which means it can't be done without you knowing. The problem arises when the person who wants access also has access to you.
Also not a lawyer or a US person, but from listening to American tech media, this has been an issue of some debate for a decade or more now.
The trick lies in their 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. Police cannot require you to give your PIN because that would violate 5th amendment rights. It has been ruled in some parts of America (but the ruling in other parts has been the opposite, IIRC) that you can be forced to give biometric unlocks. In my opinion this is kinda silly and inconsistent. It might be in line with the letter of the law, but it's certainly not in keeping with its spirit.
As an American and avid rights understander, it is not the 5th Amendment which this risks violating (which you did cite correctly), but the 4th Amendment, which guarantees protection from undue searches and seizures of your person, property, or effects. This is the whole reason for the warrant requirement and the reason you hear us bitching whenever something comes up that lets police or agents of the government acquire non-public access to information or property in a warrantless way.
An example: the police are investigating Mary's death and suspect you of having planned the murder in the Notes app on your phone, so they want to get into your phone. Without a court order (warrant), you have to give them permission. With the court order, you must give the passcode and/or unlock the phone.
Now, at this point, if your passcode happened to be 'I killed John02&' you could argue 5th Amendment protection because divulging the information would incriminate yourself in the crime, or a different crime.
The bigger problem IMO is that the Constitution does not universally apply at or within 100 miles of a border, which is where apparently 72% of the population lives.
Yeah, it’s like if you kept a bunch of illegal things in a safe the authorities have the authority to force you to unlock the safe.
Authorities with a warrant can drill into a safe to get to its contents. That’s legally distinct from forcing someone to unlock the safe by entering the combination. It takes some mental effort to enter a combination, so it counts as “testimony”, and in the USA people can’t be forced to testify against themselves.
The parallel in US law is that people can be forced to unlock a phone using biometrics, but they can’t be forced to unlock a phone by entering a passcode. The absurd part here is that the actions have the same effect, but one of them can be compelled and the other cannot.
Depends on the country you life in. And even in the USA it is to my knowledge not correct. They can try to crack it themself but you have not to comply.
Nobody cares. It's easy. Folks aren't out getting arrested in mass, even in the United States. Unless youre out selling drugs or protesting while breaking shit it has no functional effect on your life in any way.
Enter pin
"I don't know what happened, it's the right code, might be broken."
That pin was device self sanitiziation trigger for preventing information from falling in the hands of the enemy.
Then buy enough claymores to make sure there will not be a second encounter with enemy forces.
I really wish the GrapheneOS devs would add duress passwords...
For iphone brothers and sisters (courtsey of rpcameron)
You must be using an Android device. On the iPhone, 5 quick presses of the side/power button (or long-pressing power+volume) will bring up the Power Off/SOS menu; any future attempt to unlock will require the passcode. (Either action can be down without any screen interaction, meaning that you can enable this feature silently as soon as you feel it necessary.)
(Also to note for iPhones: if you choose a 7 digit or longer passcode, the entry field does not indicate how long the passcode is; the same is true if you choose an alphanumeric passcode.)
(Extra safety for those in the US if you are in a car, after doing the above stash your phone in the console/glove box; if it is within a sealed compartment not on your person additional cause/warrant is required to gain access to the device.)
Another benefit to this is that the USB port goes into a restricted mode that only allows for charging, and you can still use your cameras to record while it’s in this mode.
you could also just do basically the same thing with Android, but instead of locking it you just turn it off and it'll be locked the same way when turned back on.
A number of Android phones support most of this functionality. Unfortunately, you have to actually click on a "Lockdown mode" button after long pressing power+volume-up. Hopefully Google catches up here.
This may be the first time a federal ruling has been made but I don't know if it applies to state crimes. Many counties across the nation have ruled one way or another.
SCOTUS once ruled law enforcemeny cannot compel you to unlock a device at all and cannot access your phone without a warrant, but I don't know if that is current. Police can legally lie to you (and beat you with a $5 wrench and pronably get away with it in court).
They also have strong phone cracking packages despite FBI's lament about evidence locked away in seized devices.
Generally, do not consent to searches or cooperate without a lawyer present. Expect everything an officer tells you is intended to mislead. They will even lie in court to the judge.
First order of business: never enable the thumbprint lock on your phone.
Second order of business: never conduct any sensitive business or communication with a mobile phone.
Third order of business: use a very strong passphrase to lock your phone.
Fourth order of business: understand that all your phone calls and text messages are hoovered up into spook databases.
Hmm, is there an app/feature where if I use my thumb-print instead of say, my fore-finger print, it wipes the phone instead?
I looked into it a few years ago. Eg left thumb locks biometrics and requires pw (thus saving you from this particular law) . Right thumb just unlocks like normal.
Back then it was impossible, because biometrics couldn't differentiate between fingerprints for lord knows which security reason.
No idea if there is a solution for this already, but imo it would be a very important security feature.
As far as I know, nothing like that's possible, apps can only ask the OS to authenticate and return success or failure. They have no way of knowing which finger you used.
Tasker does this on android and the event can be chained to launch scripts and apps.
This is one of many reasons you should use a password of some kind that you keep inside of your head to unlock your phone rather than a biometric that people can use to unlock it against your will.
???
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The US Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination does not prohibit police officers from forcing a suspect to unlock a phone with a thumbprint scan, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.
The ruling does not apply to all cases in which biometrics are used to unlock an electronic device but is a significant decision in an unsettled area of the law.
Judges rejected his claim, holding "that the compelled use of Payne's thumb to unlock his phone (which he had already identified for the officers) required no cognitive exertion, placing it firmly in the same category as a blood draw or fingerprint taken at booking."
Payne conceded that "the use of biometrics to open an electronic device is akin to providing a physical key to a safe" but argued it is still a testimonial act because it "simultaneously confirm[s] ownership and authentication of its contents," the court said.
The Supreme Court "held that this was not a testimonial production, reasoning that the signing of the forms related no information about existence, control, or authenticity of the records that the bank could ultimately be forced to produce," the 9th Circuit said.
The Court held that this act of production was of a fundamentally different kind than that at issue in Doe because it was "unquestionably necessary for respondent to make extensive use of 'the contents of his own mind' in identifying the hundreds of documents responsive to the requests in the subpoena."
The original article contains 662 words, the summary contains 241 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
People who demand constant internet connect when thy go out have a higher probability of having too much personal information on their phone. It's a difference in mindset or mentality.
Cell service is overrated. Given the amount of people in public that are either scrolling or on some form of a social media shows having data service is not as important as people think it is. I have a GrapheneOS phone for listening to music and if I want to check for public wi-fi for a specific task but most days I never connect online when I am out and I've never signed up for a cell data plan before.
Life can be happier when someone is out in public and can't check messages, that usually can wait anyways for a few hours, and they can enjoy the world around, not what's on a screen.
This has been a theory for a while, just not sure it was a specifically ruled precedent. The notion being similar to how they can force fingerprinting but not testimony. Access to a physical lock or location you can't simply say 'stay out' but they can't force you to divulge a password since it's a thought in your mind.
Also, relying on biometrics is terrible, quick but immutable keys are a big no-no.
Eh, I never stopped using a password for this exact reason.
I think this solution is way too impractical for most people, who tend to unlock their phone many times a day.
Not if I cut off my thumbs first.
j/k I use a password.
If you were dumb enough to put your thumbprint into the phone in the first place then they already have it and they can access it through the modem. The courts are playing a kabuki theater or cabaret skit.
You sure about that? Isn't the hash stored on the secure element? I don't doubt some right high rolling actors can get in there but it doesn't sound that trivial.
they can access most phones through modem exploits regardless of whether you have fingerprint.
It's a real shiny kit you could say. The password is Wash too. Says so in the comics even though they know it ain't the same as him.