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.

  • PirateJesus
    16•7 months ago

    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.)

    • gregorumEnglish
      5•7 months ago

      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.

    • @thedirtyknapkin
      4•7 months ago

      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.

    • @[email protected]
      3•7 months ago

      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.