1y ago

Ninth Circuit: 5th Amendment Doesn’t Cover Compelled Production Of Fingerprints To Unlock A Phone

www.techdirt.com

from the passcodes-ftw dept

23 comments

Best description of this I have seen is: the 5th Amendment protects compelled production what you know. It does not protect what you are (fingerprints, hair, etc).
- So force your phone to require a passcode by holding volume up and off button
  
  Yep. Passcode unlocks are legally protected, unlike fingerprint unlocks. If you have any desire to keep the police out of your phone, you should not have fingerprint unlock enabled.
- Also breathalyzers. You can be compelled to give blood/breath/etc in the course of a criminal investigation and there are no constitutional protections covering you.
  
  which is crazy. how is puncturing someones sking and drawing blood against their will not a type of battery
- Or "things you possess," either. I remember being told (maybe in a college class, but I don't remember exactly) that you can be compelled to give up the key to a lock, but not the combination to a lock.
That was inevitable. It's why I never use anything that can be compelled. Make the fuckers work for it in the event the government turns you into a criminal by passing a shitty law.
pretty soon they will be able to beat you with nightsticks, just watch.
- Soon?
  
  it doesnt infringe on your 5th amendment right to keep your mouth shut
Just don't use biometrics. Bad idea in general. A 6+ digit PIN or password is just fine, especially if you set your phone to factory reset after a certain number of failed unlock attempts.
- That's just giving up your rights from the get go. They can get a warrant to compel the fingerprint.
  In this computer age, warrant requests are a button press to send a docusign e-mail to a judge, who can click the sign button while he sips his cappuccino. Make them work for it.
  
  Right... that's what I'm saying. Under the fifth, they can't compel you to unlock your phone if it's protected by a PIN or password and if you set it to factory reset after a bunch of failed attempts, they can try but it's unlikely they'll break the PIN/pass in a few attempts.

23 comments