Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Cops can force suspect to unlock phone with thumbprint, US court rules (arstechnica.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

113 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I just wish you could setup logic for this. Pulling out your phone to hold the power button for 3 seconds and then tapping the lockdown button is slow, very obvious, and likely to be prevented by an attacker.

Would be great if I could set it up to lockdown on a specific finger, or a specific number of presses on an analog button. Or even like if I leave a WiFi network or some other arbitrary condition.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (2 children)

This article and similar threads keeps popping up in my feed, so I'm going to keep spreading this tip around. (I'm using Android.)

I use tasker to automatically lockdown my phone based on accelerometer and Bluetooth. A sharp tap to my phone or being disconnected from Bluetooth is enough to lockdown my phone and disable all biometric access. I dialed in the sensitivity so that it doesn't take much, just a tap on my pocket, being set down a little too aggressively, pulled from my car and thrown to the ground is all it takes. I set it to notify me with a quick vibrate when it does this for a little added confidence that it is behaving as expected.

For a little added effort I can have tasker snap a photo that gets backed up to the cloud any time there is a failed unlock attempt, just be prepared for some unflattering photos of yourself looking like an aging male boomer posting selfies to the facebook.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Do you mind share it?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Will check it out, thanks for the tip.

EDIT: It's closed source, $4/license with a 7-day free trial.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I like using a specific finger. Guess which one wed all pick 😂

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Lol.

I'm right handed... But I almost always use my left index to unlock, so that's what's set.

Be funny to watch police force me to use my right index...