Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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FYI - Graphene OS has biometrics with pin (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Apologies If I can't list specific 3rd Android OS here. I know you can't on some reddit privacy subs due to some beef between devs I guess. I'll take down if needed :)

Regardless, Ive been running GOS for a while and just found out theres a feature that allows you to use biometrics while still requiring your pin on the initial lock screen. One of my concerns with biometrics is that in some jurisdictions, law enforcement can force someone to open their phone through face ID or thumb print.

I've been using this feature that allows you to use biometrics but when you are on the lock screen, it still requires your pin. I thought this was really cool because it allows me to use biometrics only to unlock my apps while still adding an extra layer of protection to the unlocking of the device itself. Obviously slightly Inconvenient depending on your worries/threat level, but I just wanted to share this in case anyone else was interested and didnt know about it! Very cool!

EDIT: I just re-read my screenshot and it looks like fingerprint unlock is not correlated to using fingerprint for app unlocking. If this is the case then I'm not quite sure what the actual benefits are here. Please feel free to clarify!

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I use biometrics for unlock too. If you click "Lockdown" in the power menu or just hold down the power button until your phone restarts (it should vibrate, so you can even do this while it's still in your pocket), it requires the PIN again in order to be able to unlock it.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Oh nice. Do you know if the lockdown option encrypts the phone?

From what I read, I believe on initial boot up, the phone is encrypted before first unlock but no longer after.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Even with this, biometrics could be construed as proof that it is your phone, whereas just a password or pin still has some degree of deniability

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

That's only if you're going for true "burner" levels of security

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

True. I didn't really consider the connection and more of the security side. I'm sure it differs but do you know if proof of ownership make a difference if they catch you with it in possession in the first place?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

IANAL, but if used as a burner phone with nothing identifiable on the device itself, you could probably claim you found it on the ground somewhere. You wont get the phone back most likely but that might be better than the alternative

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Makes sense. Also wasn't aware of "IANAL" and was hesitant to google but got it. Thanks lol

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Nice! That's pretty cool, and law enforcement is a reason I stopped using my fingerprint to unlock my phone. Having an extra layer of security, even if just a technicality in the case of being forced to use my print, is nice.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

Same here. Although I have no real reason with my threat level. But I could see how it could be relevant for some people. I also liked the idea because regular people could potentially use your thumb print when sleeping or something so this stops that Initial unlock.