Ask HN: Are the police allowed to unlock a phone using faceID without consent?

2 points by ToFab123 4y ago ↗ HN

If the police stops you and you have a phone where facial recognition is enabled to unlock it. Are they allowed to hold it in front of you so it unlocks and then go through the content of the phone?

3 comments

[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 19.3 ms ] thread

literallyaduck 4y ago ↗

They have guns and will do whatever they damn well please. The legal system might slap their wrist after the face. We do not live in a nation of laws. If you care about the data don't put it on a mobile device.

https://mashable.com/article/police-try-to-unlock-handcuffed...

andymoe 4y ago ↗

Suggest powering off devices when you get pulled over etc. This forces a passcode when they boot up in most cases now.

On iPhone now you don’t even have to power off. It’s enough to just get to the power off swipe screen and passcode will be required to unlock again when you hit cancel.

iab 4y ago ↗

Probably not if you are in CA:

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications...