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.
People, if you are taken into custody and are forced to unlock the phone and you wipe the phone instead, you are living in a fantasy world if you think you can’t get in trouble for that.
Maybe that’s worth it but let’s not kid ourselves that there wouldn’t be consequences.
Remember plausible deniability is a social concept not a legal one. It might of helped you get out of being grounded but it won’t save you from jail time.
That’s why you need a second account the distress pin opens that looks like it’s used for some stuff which leaves the rest encrypted.
It’s just risk management. If the only record of incriminating or sensitive (contacts for journalists, gps history etc) is on your phone it’s much better to get in trouble for deleting it than whatever else it implies or proves you or someone else did.
That is highly dependant on the country you do it in.
In matters where the judgement of the courts cannot be trusted and I would be jailed either way, I’d rather have the option to wipe my phone.
Like I said, maybe it worth it to you. Some people commenting like a distress pin is some sort of pancea.
There’s always an XKCD
Not relevant. The distress code on Graphene OS wipes the data on the phone, not encrypt it. Can’t give what doesn’t exist
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