The search warrant to raid a Washington Post reporter’s home shows how authorities can open your phone without your consent.

The recent federal raid on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson isn’t merely an attack by the Trump administration on the free press. It’s also a warning to anyone with a smartphone.

Included in the search and seizure warrant for the raid on Natanson’s home is a section titled “Biometric Unlock,” which explicitly authorized law enforcement personnel to obtain Natanson’s phone and both hold the device in front of her face and to forcibly use her fingers to unlock it. In other words, a judge gave the FBI permission to attempt to bypass biometrics: the convenient shortcuts that let you unlock your phone by scanning your fingerprint or face.

  • ugo@feddit.it
    2·
    3 hours ago

    Good recommendations. Unfortunately the claim that phones in a BFU state are effectively inaccessible is not entirely true.

    It’s more difficult than the alternative, but it’s possible in many cases. If law enforcement has your device, assume they can access to everything on it. Oftentimes even things that were deleted.