Ask Slashdot: Would You Use A Cellphone With A Kill Code?

Slashdot reader gordo3000 writes: Given all the recent headlines about border patrol getting up close and personal with phones, I've been wondering why phone manufacturers don't offer a second emergency pin that you can enter that wipes all private information on the phone? In theory, it should be pretty easy to just input a different pin (or unlock pattern) that opens up a factory reset screen on the phone and in the background begins deleting all personal information.

I'd expect that same code could also lock out the USB port until it is finished deleting the data, to help prevent many of the tools they now have to copy out everything on your phone. This nicely prevents you from having to back up and wipe your phone before every trip but leaves you with a safety measure if you get harassed at the border.
It could be built into the operating system, added by the manufacturer, or perhaps sideloaded as a custom mod -- but that begs the question of whether it'd really be a popular feature. So leave your own thoughts in the comments. Would you use a cellphone with a kill code?

Comments

Mandatory

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

Re:Mandatory

[michelcolman]

There's no need to lock any ports, though: wiping an encrypted phone can be done in less than a millisecond. All you need to do is destroy the encryption key. That's what iPhones do when you enter the wrong pin multiple times, and the effect is instant and irreversible. It would be trivial for Apple to add a feature that wipes the phone for a specific pin chosen by the user.

Law enforcement can sometimes retrieve a password. But that password only serves to decode the actual decryption key, which is a random sequence of bits. If that key is gone, it would take billions of years to decode the device.

Re:No.

[Anonymous Coward]

This. In practically no other "modern western country" is this an issue except in the US (and to some extent in the UK either now or in the immediate future). Everyone knows this. Everyone knows how to avaoid it, and that makes it completely useless.

18 USC 1503

[tlambert]

18 USC 1503 : Federal Obstruction of Justice.

10 years in a Federal pound-you-in-the-ass prison.

Your new cellmate is named "Bubba".

Yes, I'd use one, however I wouldn't buy one

[Rick Schumann]

1. I don't use a smartphone, because they are proven time and time again to be easily exploited and compromised, even if you're careful
2. I wouldn't buy a smartphone, for the reasons stated in #1
3. If I found I had no choice but to own a smartphone, all Internet access would be disabled by intentional misconfigure of network settings (and NO, I don't care)
4. #1 through #3 having been said: If I was travelling internationally, I would NEVER bring my actual phone with me, I would get a cheap prepaid phone, put nothing at all on it, and if it was taken to be 'examined' by customs officials or law enforcement, I'd destroy the SIM card and throw the phone away immediately, and get a new one if necessary.

Seriously, folks, if you're going to travel internationally, leave your real phone at home and buy a cheap porepaid phone to take with you. Then the whole issue of having your privacy invaded and/or your phone compromised and/or your phone confiscated becomes moot. Would cost you all of $50 at most plus however many minutes you want to put on it.