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FBI stymied by Apple's Lockdown Mode after seizing journalist's iPhone (arstechnica.com)
8 points by alwillis 3 hours ago | hide | past | favorite | 7 comments
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I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that someone can be compelled to give up their biometric login, when a password is off limits. It feels like this goes against the spirit of the 5th amendment.

This is especially true as the industry pushes more and more toward Passkeys and other passwordless means of login, which rely more and more on biometrics.


Definitely not a coincidence.

Oh we do end-to-end encrypt everything for your safety, see our article on the unbreakable protocol... but you can unlock everything with this 4 digit windows hello pin, unlimited retries, you are mandatory to define the pin, if you want to use high security features... Totally not a backdoor.

Apple is more principled on this front definitely.


Idea: canary fingers. You register a few digits that wipe filesystem keys from memory so that no further biometrics can be used. It’s like what happens when you hold the power button on an iphone, but with a fun russian roulette twist.

If she'd held her finger on the reader long enough wouldn't it have force powered down the mac? (from the article, they held her finger on the reader. Unlike the phone, this did unlock the mac)

The judge also blocked the FBI from reading any of the data they found, a week ago! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-blocks-doj-from-searching...

And thank the stars! This is incredibly chilling deeply disturbing an event to have happened at all. Raiding journalists like this is wild.

The judge is pretty pissed that the FBI for not telling them how illegal this search was in the first place. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/20/politics/judge-rips-washingto...

It's incredible what a spineless weak willed authoritarian group of losers are running things now. Zero spine, just lawless pathetic intimidation at every turn. What shrill animals.


> a spineless weak willed authoritarian group of losers ... lawless pathetic intimidation at every turn.

Oh brave and mighty warrior. we thank you for your courage and strength enabling you to write words on a keyboard, for everyone to see!

When they come knocking on your door, we all know you will cry and screech them into submission, saving us all!


1. He spoke truth. xkcd 538 may make people believe and claim 2+2=5, but it won't rewrite math or make a previous claim of 4 less correct.

2. If you think a post like his can invite no serious negative consequences at all, thus requiring no modicum of courage, we'd all like to hear about your past few years in a bunker.

3. If nothing else, the other post is useful, in that it provided additional information. Yours carries all the value black-pill bromides usually do, which is...




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