“A Virginia circuit court judge ruled this week that smartphone users can be compelled to give up their fingerprint, but not their passcodes, allowing police to search their devices,” Zack Whittaker reports for ZDNet.
“A fingerprint — used by a number of devices, like the latest iPhones, iPads, and Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets — does not fall within these protections, which Judge Steven C. Frucci likened it to handing over a DNA sample,” Whittaker reports. “There is a caveat, however. If a device is locked by both a fingerprint and a passcode, the passcode wins, meaning the device is protected.”
Read more in the full article here.
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