Privacy

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Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone’s Biometrics Now (theintercept.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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The recent federal raid on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson isn’t merely an attack by the Trump administration on the free press. It’s also a warning to anyone with a smartphone.

Included in the search and seizure warrant for the raid on Natanson’s home is a section titled “Biometric Unlock,” which explicitly authorized law enforcement personnel to obtain Natanson’s phone and both hold the device in front of her face and to forcibly use her fingers to unlock it. In other words, a judge gave the FBI permission to attempt to bypass biometrics: the convenient shortcuts that let you unlock your phone by scanning your fingerprint or face.-

It is not clear if Natanson used biometric authentication on her devices, or if the law enforcement personnel attempted to use her face or fingers to unlock her devices. Natanson and the Washington Post did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

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[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

Of course you don’t. The point of my reply wasn’t to encourage you to rig your car to explode but to explain some of the reasons why it’s perfectly understandable to take every possible precaution about your phone if you think it’s possible cops will get it.

You suppose in your earlier reply that a persons unique actions must be the precursor to a level of paranoia around law enforcement that approaches destroying the phones contents. I was trying to illustrate that everyone should be extremely apprehensive about cops getting their phones, not just those who are engaged in some clandestine bullshit ala the old mad magazine marginalia.

Of course, just turning your phone off if you’ve sufficiently hardened the settings is enough for four or five years of safety on ios and at least a year or two on android.