Cops can make you unlock your phone if you use your fingerprint to unlock.

[Darkman]

And this is why fingerprint scanners on phones aren't a selling point.

 

Meanwhile, I'm sat here with password protection and encrypted storage. GG.

Living the life, am I right?

[NickTheMajin]

I see you haven't read the 2nd part of that post. ENCRYPTING DOES NOT EQUAL ILLEGAL ACTIVITY. 

Sure, pattern unlock is also fast, but how much did you save? 0.5s at best. And I don't want any device to have my fingerprint at all, not even a fingerprint scanner for door unlocking that works offline. I use the standard swipe to unlock, I don't have much on my phone that is compromising me in any way other than a few photos in the gallery But on the other hand I do have some sensitive info related to the company and a few clients, which is encrypted and stored both on the PC and on the phone, that's that 5-10% of personal data that needs to stay personal!

You are entitled to your own reasons for encrypting your stuff but I don't see the point. Unless you are someone very important no one is going to spend the energy required to bypass the iPhone's fingerprint scanner. The convenience is worth the world. I unlock my phone hundreds of times a day and being able to just click the home button and have it automatically go to my home screen is amazing

[IdortMasterRace]

Fingerprint unlocks your phone way faster than a passcode, at least on the iPhone. It's actually faster to unlock my iPhone with my finger print than it is to not have a password at all and unlock the phone and have to swipe the lock screen away. 

 

Why the hell would we give this up just because cops can force us to unlock our phones. Don't do illegal shit. End of story. 

 

Yeah, they should put CCTV cameras inside people's homes too. After all, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

 

I'm not hating on you. I'm calling you paranoid. A police officer is not going to randomly walk up to you and ask to go through your phone. Ever. You need to give them a reason to. Take your tinfoil hat off. 

 

Carry on living in that little naive bubble of yours. Because innocent people are totally never, ever abused by the police and government on a daily basis, are they?

 

Oh wait.

[dalekphalm]

It's not easy to fake the iPhone figer print scanner. Not sure about other phones but apples is quite secure. You can say all you want about it not being secure but unless you're the CEO of a big company or someone else important no one is going to expend the energy. You can't just lift the figer print from any old smudge.

Do you have a source or link that verifies this? Has this been tested? I'd like to believe that the iPhone fingerprint scanner is somehow better than average, but I'd like to see some evidence backing up that claim of yours.

 

With most fingerprint scanners, you can defeat them quite easily (with some patience of course) using something as simple as highly adhesive tape + silicon gloves.

 

And the argument of "Oh well if you aren't important, no one cares" is 100% completely irrelevant. No one is talking about how frequently something like this might happen. It's whether it CAN happen. And if you think no one will try to defeat the iPhone fingerprint scanner for regular people, you're wrong.

 

There are plenty of cases where it could happen:

Husband thinks his wife is cheating on him - wants to break into her iPhone

Person gets fired from their job - wants to get back at their boss

Career criminal finds an iPhone at a bus stop - wants to see if there's anything worthwhile inside (doubly important with ApplePay)

 

I could go on. Yeah, most cases are going to be about high profile public figures, but it will still happen with regular people. I'd definitely like to see some testing on the iPhone scanner. You claim its very secure - lets see some proof.

[dalekphalm]

You are entitled to your own reasons for encrypting your stuff but I don't see the point. Unless you are someone very important no one is going to spend the energy required to bypass the iPhone's fingerprint scanner. The convenience is worth the world. I unlock my phone hundreds of times a day and being able to just click the home button and have it automatically go to my home screen is amazing

I sincerely hope you don't ever work for a company that gives you access to confidential client records. That mindset is the reason why millions of client records are lost every year. You don't have to be Bill Gates, or a CEO, to carry around confidential information for your job that could put your clients at risk.

[Bogica]

You are entitled to your own reasons for encrypting your stuff but I don't see the point. Unless you are someone very important no one is going to spend the energy required to bypass the iPhone's fingerprint scanner. The convenience is worth the world. I unlock my phone hundreds of times a day and being able to just click the home button and have it automatically go to my home screen is amazing

Working for a private security company made me paranoid because it just goes to show how far a single microphone in a room can capture information, let alone an entire PC or Phone. But to an extent you are right, if you are not interesting in particular, I won't bother. But you might become interesting in the near future, not to a company, not to the government but rather to an individual. Just fb messages between you and your friends can contain so much personal info that isn't in any government databse, just think about it for a moment, let it sink in...

[Ashley]

I don't see how this is apples products or policies fault.

Not to mention they will be encrypting iCloud in such a way they can't read your data even if they wanted to, much like SpiderOak (a service recommended by Edward Snowden himself).

 

However it seems the three letter agencies may try to force a backdoor. Again, not Apple's fault.

 

ib4 "omg Apple fangirl" I don't own any Apple products.

[I Am The JK Man]

That is so dumb they should need to ask a judge to such a phone

[Trik'Stari]

It does kind of make sense, although they should have to get a warrant for it like they do for your DNA (although I think they don't need a warrant for DNA if you are under arrest).

 

It does make sense so since it's a physical thing, rather than a passcode. Either way, doesn't matter to me since I'm not stupid enough to keep a detailed list of illegal activities on my phone, and I don't use fingerprint scanning for anything (you really think the NSA or someone can't pull your fingerprints off of that over the internet? just give that one a bit of time).

 

Why is this a surprise coming from the US of A, a country that jails people without ever giving them trials or lawyers at all

 

It's incredible every time I think about it. We always talk about small issues about the police being too power hungry and yet here we are jailing people without any evidence, without a fair trial, without fair representation? 

 

Jailing for decades without a trial is a dark age tactic, I shudder to think that this country partakes in it. It's a much bigger issue than some case about DNA being given over without a warrant. 

Who is being jailed without a trial? People deemed to be a flight risk, or those deemed a danger to society are jailed until their trial, and I'd think those suspected of terrorism could fall under that category.

[Sharkyx1]

And this is why fingerprint scanners on phones aren't a selling point.

 

We need to stop with the whole fingerprint unlocking and fingerprint sensors on smartphones.

 

Its still a selling point, its a massive convenience boost, and while once again this proves that doing illigal shit will get you caught, the important fact for 99% of the population is that this is safer from others trying to get into your phone than a password

If you're anyone normal your password is so that your friend cant get into your phone and text stupid shit to people or your kids cant buy stuff without your permission. Fingerprint ID is still the best for those two cases.

[Bogica]

 

 

 

 

Its still a selling point, its a massive convenience boost, and while once again this proves that doing illigal shit will get you caught, the important fact for 99% of the population is that this is safer from others trying to get into your phone than a password

If you're anyone normal your password is so that your friend cant get into your phone and text stupid shit to people or your kids cant buy stuff without your permission. Fingerprint ID is still the best for those two cases.

 

It is, but at what cost? You are supplying your fingerprint to your phone, Apple and maybe even a 3rd Party that got to it in any legal or illegal way... I think we've all learned by now that nothing is secure...

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

You are supplying your fingerprint to your phone, Apple and maybe even a 3rd Party that got to it in any legal or illegal way... I think we've all learned by now that nothing is secure...

Quoted for truthness

 

It never ceases to amaze me how people just assume that their personal data is secure on those databases.  One after another gets hacked but y'all just carry on using them, hoping that you're safe.  

[Pii]

Not sure if this exactly fits in with tech news but, thought it was interesting all the same.

 

http://mashable.com/2014/10/30/cops-can-force-you-to-unlock-phone-with-fingerprint-ruling/#:eyJzIjoiZiIsImkiOiJfNjB3cXptbDVsbjk1YmIyZiJ9 

 

I could have sworn a recent Supreme Court ruling made it clear to cops you need a warrant to search a phone regardless if it locked or not.

[Pii]

Why is this a surprise coming from the US of A, a country that jails people without ever giving them trials or lawyers at all

You're not from here are you? Yes we have some stupid Patriot Act BS that allows them to do that if the Government labels them a terrorist but so far it hasn't happened and everyone gets a trail and lawyer if need be.

 

"It's incredible every time I think about it. We always talk about small issues about the police being too power hungry and yet here we are jailing people without any evidence, without a fair trial, without fair representation?"

 

Name ONE.

 

"Jailing for decades without a trial is a dark age tactic, I shudder to think that this country partakes in it."

 

Again give ONE example. Good luck

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Name ONE.

Shaker Aamer : Arrested in 2002, still in captivity without charge or trial. The Bush administration acknowledged that it had no evidence against Aamer, so they cleared him for release in 2007. He's still in there.

Abdelaziz Kareem Salim Al-Noofayee : Arrested in 2002 for wearing a Casio watch. Spent 7 years in Guantanamo, then repatriated to Saudi Arabia

That's just 2 in the "Guantanamo Bay detainees whose surnames begin with A" section on Wikipedia. Want me to go all the way to Z ?

[Tygron]

I could have sworn a recent Supreme Court ruling made it clear to cops you need a warrant to search a phone regardless if it locked or not.

Pretty sure, but i'm not sure if this is before or after the warrant. I'm sure they can make you hand over keys and stuff with a warrant and apparently your fingerprint to unlock a phone isn't any different. But if the warrant also covers unlocking your phone with your passcode too.... well then I dunno.

[Sharkyx1]

It is, but at what cost? You are supplying your fingerprint to your phone, Apple and maybe even a 3rd Party that got to it in any legal or illegal way... I think we've all learned by now that nothing is secure...

Well i gave the US gov my fingerprints when i got my nexus card, no relation to the phones if you didn't know, its basically a more convenient creditcard sized passport replacement.

[martinrox1568]

it's a good thing I dont subscribe the Apple products or their terribly insecure policies

Yeah because this is Apple's fault right? They're the ones that make up the law. 

[pit5000]

maybe i should change my TouchID to random parts of my palm... or my penis

[KingDaddyDaniel]

Yeah because this is Apple's fault right? They're the ones that make up the law. 

I fixed it. I didn't say the law was wrong either. I believe that law enforcement, with the proper judge-approved warrant, should be able to make us unlock our doors, cars, and phones.

 

its a good thing I dont subscribe to a technology that Apple popularized or many other companies' insecure policies

FTFY

[Mew]

I'd like to make it known that this is really easy to get around, at least for iOS. If a cop asks for you to unlock your phone, try to restart your phone because TouchID will not work after a restart, it requires a pin after 48 hours of not unlocking or after a reboot. To restart your iPhone, simply hold the power and home button for a couple seconds.

[NickTheMajin]

It is, but at what cost? You are supplying your fingerprint to your phone, Apple and maybe even a 3rd Party that got to it in any legal or illegal way... I think we've all learned by now that nothing is secure...

Apple never sees your print. It's stored on the phone. Never goes to the cloud

[Lord Baal]

I'd prefer the option to have both print and pin when powering the phone on and maybe just print or what ever to unlock it once powered on. It's not all that hard to turn your phone off before allowing them to have it thus solving the problem and adding another layer of security seems pretty easy.

That said my phones doesn't actually have an option for it so meh

[NickTheMajin]

Quoted for truthness

 

It never ceases to amaze me how people just assume that their personal data is secure on those databases.  One after another gets hacked but y'all just carry on using them, hoping that you're safe.  

 

There is no database to hack. When you use your fingerprint for your iPhone its stored locally on the phone. Nothing gets sent to the cloud at all. 

[Gumi Rokkaku]

I don't understand why people don't just use passwords. It's not like passwords are hard to remember.