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Virginia Court: LEOs Can Force You To Provide Fingerprint To Unlock Your Phone

Posted by Soulskill on from the now-where-am-i-going-to-store-my-incriminating-evidence dept.

schwit1 writes with news of a Circuit Court decision from Virginia where a judge has ruled that a criminal defendant cannot use Fifth Amendment protections to safeguard a phone that is locked using his or her fingerprint. According to Judge Steven C. Fucci, while a criminal defendant can't be compelled to hand over a passcode to police officers for the purpose of unlocking a cellular device, law enforcement officials can compel a defendant to give up a fingerprint. The Fifth Amendment states that "no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," which protects memorized information like passwords and passcodes, but it does not extend to fingerprints in the eyes of the law, as speculated by Wired last year. Frucci said that "giving police a fingerprint is akin to providing a DNA or handwriting sample or an actual key, which the law permits. A passcode, though, requires the defendant to divulge knowledge, which the law protects against, according to Frucci's written opinion."

4 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. It's easy by xaotikdesigns · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just chew them off which ever finger print unlocks the phone. They don't get your info, and you get an insanity plea.

    --
    XDInd
  2. Re:don't use biometrics by BasilBrush · · Score: 3, Funny

    You'd be surprised how many felonies and misdemeanors they could find on your phone.

    I wouldn't be at all surprised. They'll find none. Don't assume everyone is like you.

  3. Get the Best of Both Worlds by GospelHead821 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Get the best of both biometric security AND passcode security. Use somebody else's fingerprint to unlock your phone but refuse to divulge the knowledge of whose fingerprint!

    --
    Virtue finds and chooses the mean.
    Aristotle, Ethica Nichomachea
  4. Re:don't use biometrics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just because some French guy said something that sounds sinisterly clever doesn't mean it's true.

    Richilieu wasn't being glib. He was telling one of his Junior Cardinal trainees the number of things a properly trained Cardinal needed written in someone's own hand to hang him. The "six lines" statistically will contain at least one instance of every letter of the French alphabet, allowing anyone to make a convincing forgery, which is what he was actually talking about.

    Before going into his father's business of Cardinalling, Richilieu was apprenticed to a master forger, and he was a life-long enthusiast of the art of writing like other people. He was caught when he handed the Pope a note excusing him from class signed by "Jesus H. Christ." Although the hand-writing was a spot-on match, the Pope knew... Jesus never signed Holy Excuse Notes using his middle initial. It got the Cardinal demoted to bishop, costing him the ability to move in directions other than diagonal.