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A comment on Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or Face, Judge Rules. Parent comment

Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by umvi on Monday January 14, 2019 @06:16PM (#18907481)
More like:

Police: "We have a warrant for your apartment, let us in"

Suspect: "Sorry, I lost the key when I went hiking in the Rocky Mountains, there's no way in. Oh, and be aware that if you try to force your way in more than 5 times, the apartment will catch fire and destroy everything inside"

What would happen in this case? Can the suspect be held in contempt?

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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by jdc on Monday January 14, 2019 @06:59PM (#18907758)
Probably obstruction of justice IMHO
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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by int_19h on Monday January 14, 2019 @11:54PM (#18908936)
Doesn't that require intent and planning? If the arrangements were in place before the crime was even planned, how can it be obstruction?
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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by nerdponx on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @02:56AM (#18909472)
It's obstruction if they didn't actually lose the key, or the deliberately "lost" the key.
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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by dmitrygr on Monday January 14, 2019 @08:45PM (#18908232)
That is a degenerate argument. an apartment is clearly yours. Without your password there is no way to conclusively prove that a phone is yours. SIM cards can be swapped, for example. The incriminating is not stating the password. it is the fact that you are proving the phone as yours.
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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by swiftcoder on Monday January 14, 2019 @10:45PM (#18908710)
Phone's have serial numbers tied to the hardware. It's certainly possible to prove that a given phone is the same physical unit that one purchased.
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Re:Feds Can't Force You to Unlock Your iPhone with Finger or... by dmitrygr on Monday January 14, 2019 @11:27PM (#18908856)
Which does not in any way prove that it is yours. Over my lifetime I purchased over 30 phones. Only two of them are currently mine. If you were to place another one I have purchased, but long ago sold in my possession, that would not be enough to prove that it is currently mine. if I happen to know the password, that might be very convincing.
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