iOS 11 has a new feature to lock down your phone's Touch ID from prying law enforcement...

[William Gayde]

Apple has added a new security and privacy focused feature to the latest revision of iOS. By pressing the power button five times in quick succession, a new menu will open up. This new setting will allow users to quickly reach emergency services and also temporarily disable Touch ID. It won't automatically dial 911, but it will bring up the option in case of an emergency. The feature was discovered by Twitter users and is being called the "cop button" since it appears to have been designed for law enforcement encounters. After enabling the feature, the phone will require a passcode to unlock.

iOS 11 is a game-changer for Touch ID. Press power button rapidly 5 times and it opens the 2nd screen, but it also forces passphrase entry! pic.twitter.com/uvWbM04lyk

— Kia‏☆ (@alt_kia) August 17, 2017

Previously, if you wanted to turn off Touch ID you had to go through a long and complicated process. This involved waiting days for the phone to prompt you for a passcode, if purposefully locking the phone out with a bad fingerprint, or going through the settings process of disabling it. With this update, the setting is easily accessible. Given Apple's previous stance supporting user encryption and privacy from law enforcement, this seems aimed at helping users who may be forced into unlocking their phones.

There have been reports of police 3D printing fingers to unlock phones. With increased security checkpoints at borders and the likely introduction of facial recognition, Apple wants a quick way to ensure only a device's true owner can unlock the phone and only when they want it unlocked. Assuming you have time to do the five button presses, this update should remove the threat of being forced to unlock your phone.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/70620-ios-11-has-new-feature-lock-down-phone.html

 

[mbrowne5061]

Especially since state and federal courts have been trying to classify biometric data as unprotected by the 5th amendment - which allows you t refuse to surrender electronic passwords/unlock codes.

 

[ChrisH1]

Or, you could simply not use fingerprint recognition. It's not compulsory.
And what's so hard about turning it off? Settings - TouchId & Passcode - off. No need to wait days.
Or, just turn the phone off - that requires the passcode.

 

[imronburgundy]

Or, you could simply not use fingerprint recognition. It's not compulsory.
And what's so hard about turning it off? Settings - TouchId & Passcode - off. No need to wait days.
Or, just turn the phone off - that requires the passcode.

The whole point is that in 1 sec you can lock up your phone if you suspect you're about to be under duress from over zealous border patrol/cops etc. If you've ever shut down an iPhone, it's not that quick of a thing. Plus, you get to keep using touch id without have to set it up again.

 

[ChrisH1]

If you think that you're going to be in a position at border control where they want to see your phone, and you're going to have the presence of mind and ability to pull your phone out and press the home button 5 times without their noticing, you're going to have a bad time.

If I was a border control guard and saw that, the first thing I would thing would be, 'hey, those guys have something to hide'. I bet I could get it off you before you pressed that button 5 times and then use your finger to open it up. And if I couldn't, well, I bet I could get that passcode out of you with very little trouble. And I'm a nice guy, I haven't been in a fight since I was 12, I'm kind to animals and children. I go out of my way to help trapped insects and lizards out of my home, without harming them.

If you refused, I bet a harassed border control guard "would not think twice before doing something so pointlessly hideous to you that you will wish you had never been born - or (if you are a clearer minded thinker) that the [border control guard] had never been born" and you'd be handing that code over and thanking them for the privilege of allowing you to do so.

 

[imronburgundy]

If you think that you're going to be in a position at border control where they want to see your phone, and you're going to have the presence of mind and ability to pull your phone out and press the home button 5 times without their noticing, you're going to have a bad time.

If I was a border control guard and saw that, the first thing I would thing would be, 'hey, those guys have something to hide'. I bet I could get it off you before you pressed that button 5 times and then use your finger to open it up. And if I couldn't, well, I bet I could get that passcode out of you with very little trouble. And I'm a nice guy, I haven't been in a fight since I was 12, I'm kind to animals and children. I go out of my way to help trapped insects and lizards out of my home, without harming them.

If you refused, I bet a harassed border control guard "would not think twice before doing something so pointlessly hideous to you that you will wish you had never been born - or (if you are a clearer minded thinker) that the [border control guard] had never been born" and you'd be handing that code over and thanking them for the privilege of allowing you to do so.

or you just discreetly push the button 5 times in your pocket with border patrol unaware of what's even going on...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Fingerprints - unlike passcode - aren't protected by the 5th Amendment.

If cops want into your phone and you're dead, all they need to do is touch your finger to it and open it up.

I'd say that what we really need is a feature that erases all content if we touch the phone with a "doomsday finger"

Imagine that I use my left pinky as the doomsday finger and my index fingers/thumbs as normal entry fingers.


BY THE WAY: if I die suddenly, you have full permission to take my computers, ipads, Bitcoin miners, laptops, and My Cloud servers HARD DRIVES and set them on fire in my metal garbage can in my backyard. You can keep the actual machine...but just burn the HDD.

I have a full gas can out there for you to use.

 

[agb81]

If you think that you're going to be in a position at border control where they want to see your phone, and you're going to have the presence of mind and ability to pull your phone out and press the home button 5 times without their noticing, you're going to have a bad time.

They are customs officers, not jedi

If I was a border control guard and saw that, the first thing I would thing would be, 'hey, those guys have something to hide'. I bet I could get it off you before you pressed that button 5 times and then use your finger to open it up. And if I couldn't, well, I bet I could get that passcode out of you with very little trouble. And I'm a nice guy, I haven't been in a fight since I was 12, I'm kind to animals and children. I go out of my way to help trapped insects and lizards out of my home, without harming them.

Unless you can assure me your lightning reflexes and take it off my hand in less than 2 seconds on the way from my pocket to my face, then I wish you good luck.
And no, you couldn't get the passcode from my head given that they're, again, US Customs officers, not CIA agents. They can deny you entrance to the States and they can definitely ban you for a lifetime. And, unless you're trying to smuggle weapons or denote your intention to be a terrorist, I don't think you can take anyone to take those famous "enhanced interrogation practices" that some branches of the government use.

Also, I don't thiknk that you're so much of a good soul as you say you are... your ideas about interrogating someone are a little twisted.

If you refused, I bet a harassed border control guard "would not think twice before doing something so pointlessly hideous to you that you will wish you had never been born - or (if you are a clearer minded thinker) that the [border control guard] had never been born" and you'd be handing that code over and thanking them for the privilege of allowing you to do so.

No, they can deny you entrance, ban you or deport you, pretty much.

...and thanking them for the privilege of allowing you to do so.

Ok, stop it right there. Unless you're telling me that by entering the States I automatically get, free health care, free food stamps, free education and free housing, then you're plain wrong.

In my case, when I go to the States is either for work related issues or shopping/touristing and since both activities seem mutually beneficial I don't see it as a privilege.


Bottom line is, is not about having anything to hide, is about having your right to privacy intact.

I wouldn't like for some guy and his colleagues to read my very private conversation with my wife. Hell, might go as far as sexting with pictures intended only for me.

I wouldn't like for some guy and his colleagues to know that I don't support Trump and be denied entrance just for that.

I wouldn't like for some guy and his colleagues to read my thoughts about depression or some other personal information with my psychologist.

For me, privacy is about that.

 

[ChrisH1]

or you just discreetly push the button 5 times in your pocket with border patrol unaware of what's even going on...

Well if I was such a person (and I am emphatically not) and that was a concern, I think it would be easier all round to just not use fingerprint recognition.

 

[Mike89]

Oh great, another protection from Apple that will protect you if you are terrorist. Remember though folks, if you are a terrorist, Apple will protect you, BUT if it has to do with copyright infringement, Apple will give you up in a second.

 

[flyboydale54]

There is no protection, except for Mission Impossible technique. Press the button three times and the phone will self-destruct. Now when Apple comes up with that, I will consider my phone and my rights protected from law enforcement!!! The expression on the cops faces would be priceless watching it go up in smoke.

 

[ChrisH1]

They are customs officers, not jedi





Unless you can assure me your lightning reflexes and take it off my hand in less than 2 seconds on the way from my pocket to my face, then I wish you good luck.
And no, you couldn't get the passcode from my head given that they're, again, US Customs officers, not CIA agents. They can deny you entrance to the States and they can definitely ban you for a lifetime. And, unless you're trying to smuggle weapons or denote your intention to be a terrorist, I don't think you can take anyone to take those famous "enhanced interrogation practices" that some branches of the government use.

Also, I don't thiknk that you're so much of a good soul as you say you are... your ideas about interrogating someone are a little twisted.





No, they can deny you entrance, ban you or deport you, pretty much.





Ok, stop it right there. Unless you're telling me that by entering the States I automatically get, free health care, free food stamps, free education and free housing, then you're plain wrong.

In my case, when I go to the States is either for work related issues or shopping/touristing and since both activities seem mutually beneficial I don't see it as a privilege.


Bottom line is, is not about having anything to hide, is about having your right to privacy intact.

I wouldn't like for some guy and his colleagues to read my very private conversation with my wife. Hell, might go as far as sexting with pictures intended only for me.

I wouldn't like for some guy and his colleagues to know that I don't support Trump and be denied entrance just for that.

I wouldn't like for some guy and his colleagues to read my thoughts about depression or some other personal information with my psychologist.

For me, privacy is about that.

When you say 'plain wrong' I think you think I mean, when I say 'and thanking them for the privilege of allowing you to do' that I mean you're grateful to the BG's for letting you in to the wonderful USA. I don't mean that, I mean thanking them for the privilege of handing over your unlocked phone rather than the alternative they graphically describe to you.