Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or Face, Judge Rules

Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by Retra on Monday January 14, 2019 @03:54PM (#18906364)

My understanding is that the police use polygraphs simply as a 'primed' question-asking session for people who agree to take them. It is no different from sitting down and asking someone questions, except maybe they will believe you can tell that they are lying, and so might be more honest. The polygraph doesn't have to be evidence because your answers to questions are evidence by themselves. Whether you are hooked up to a polygraph is irrelevant.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by owenmarshall on Monday January 14, 2019 @04:17PM (#18906581)

In this respect they're not really any different from an officer administering a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer to someone they've stopped for a suspected DUI: these prime the suspect to give more information than legally required.

And worse, these will provide opportunities for the state to build probable cause for a stop that otherwise might not exist.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by TheSpiceIsLife on Monday January 14, 2019 @04:01PM (#18906424)

> Whether you are hooked up to a polygraph is irrelevant.

I'm going to go with strongly disagree here.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by Retra on Monday January 14, 2019 @04:13PM (#18906536)

So you're willing to argue that the output of a polygraph is evidence of something in absence of any responses you give during questioning?

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by TheSpiceIsLife on Monday January 14, 2019 @04:20PM (#18906613)

I'm arguing that the idea that anyone is allowed to connect anything to me while they ask me questions is perverse, reprehensible, and absurd.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by Retra on Monday January 14, 2019 @06:39PM (#18907636)

That has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. You can (and should) simply refuse to take any polygraphs. It will never work in your favor.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by brokenmachine on Monday January 14, 2019 @10:55PM (#18908758)

Also "no comment, lawyer please" is a good answer for any question.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by hannasanarion on Monday January 14, 2019 @05:29PM (#18907139)

The comment you replied to pointed out that they are voluntary.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by TheSpiceIsLife on Monday January 14, 2019 @05:41PM (#18907237)

Voluntary is the sense of someone(s) in a position of authority or power asking if you're willing to submit to a voluntary procedure.

I've be interviewed by police twice after being charged with crimes that carry potential prison sentences. The interviews are voluntary in the sense you're not required to answer any of the questions, and I could have chosen to wait in a cell for my lawyer to turn up days later ... but I volunteered to respond to each question by making a mockery of their questions and processes.

These people in authority, they are not there to help you, with their badges and their guns and their attitude problems, and I don't believe it's possible for someone to "volunteer" when such a power imbalance exists.

It's an absurd use of the word. You can't "volunteer" when the other person is carrying a gun.

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by brokenmachine on Monday January 14, 2019 @10:15PM (#18908613)

Absolutely you could have waited for a lawyer. You voluntarily decided not to.

"voluntary" - done, given, or acting of one's own free will. You said yourself that you could have waited, but decided not to.

Alternatively you could have just done a "no comment" interview, which - let's be honest - is what the lawyer would have advised you to do, no matter if you're guilty or not.

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