Why You Should Stop Using Face ID Right Now

[usonian]

https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/why-you-should-stop-using-face-id-right-now

Biometric locks like face recognition are easy to set up—but thanks to a legal loophole, they're easier for law enforcement to bypass than a passcode.

Using a face scan to unlock your phone and log in to accounts is easy to set up, but it's not the best option for everyone. That's because, thanks to a 5th Amendment loophole, law enforcement agents can use your biometric data to unlock your phone. We saw this last month, when a Washington Post reporter's home was raided by the FBI. According to court records obtained by 404 Media, agents were unable to access the reporter’s iPhone because it was in Lockdown Mode, but they got a warrant from a federal judge to compel the reporter to unlock their computer via a fingerprint scan.

So are biometric scans a safe way to lock down your devices? After all, face and fingerprint scans can be used against you, while passwords and passcodes cannot. Let’s talk about why you may want to stop using biometrics to unlock your phone, sooner rather than later.

Repeat:

After all, face and fingerprint scans can be used against you, while passwords and passcodes cannot.

Be safe!

[CousinIT]

1. I use MFA, passkeys mostly. For phone, I use a numeric passcode - no face or fingerprint.

By law, you do not have to tell law enforcement the passcode.

Before leaving for any political activity, esp protests, I put the phone in airplane mode. No connectivity. And turn off location use for everything. EDIT: And last time, I set the phone so alerts, calls, or codes wouldn't show up on the home screen. But I can still take photos. Then turn it all back on when I'm back home.

Next time I'll be wearing sunglasses and a bandana around my face, too.

It doesn't cover everything and isn't perfect (many leave their phones at home, which is the safest option), but it's some of what I do.