Fingerprint & Face ID Protection: The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits Authorities from forcing you to reveal your PIN or password accessof your phone.
However, this measure can not provide fingerprint lock protection or Face ID. According to the news, this may change in the next time.
The record:
A warrant was filed in Oakland requesting permission to make a raid and seizure personal property. The warrant also included access to all mobile devices, even those locked with biometric data (Fingerprint and Face ID), immediately after seizure.
However, a U.S. District Court judge in Northern California ruled that the request was excessive, arguing that "it was not limited to one person or device."
In other words, the police were asking the court for a general license that would allow the suspects to unlock their devices.
Thomas Brewster of Forbes he describes why this court decision is important:
In the most important part of the ruling, Judge Westmore said the government had no right, even with a warrant, to force suspects to unlock their devices with their biometrics characteristics. Previously, courts had ruled that biometrics, unlike passwords, were not protected. This is because a suspect would have to verbally and voluntarily testify to a password, which is not the case with biometric data. Thus, the password was considered a protected credential while body parts were not, and thus there was no Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.
It sounds logical, since passwords are protected by law, because not the Fingerprint and Face ID biometric data used to lock a device / property.
Of course, we have to see if the US authorities accept the decision, and above all, if they respect it in everyday life.
As far as Greece is concerned, we do not know what is happening. The positive thing, however, is that at the moment there is the res judicata (if not later removed under the pressure of the secret services).
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