I recently wrote about the new ability to disable the Touch ID login on iPhones. This is important because of a weirdness in current US law that protects people's passcodes from forced disclosure in ways it does not protect actions: being forced to place a thumb on a fingerprint reader.
There's another, more significant, change: iOS now requires a passcode before the phone will establish trust with another device.
In the current system, when you connect your phone to a computer, you're prompted with the question "Trust this computer?" and you can click yes or no. Now you have to enter in your passcode again. That means if the police have an unlocked phone, they can scroll through the phone looking for things but they can't download all of the contents onto a another computer without also knowing the passcode.
More details:
This might be particularly consequential during border searches. The "border search" exception, which allows Customs and Border Protection to search anything going into the country, is a contentious issue when applied electronics. It is somewhat (but not completely) settled law, but that the U.S. government can, without any cause at all (not even "reasonable articulable suspicion", let alone "probable cause"), copy all the contents of my devices when I reenter the country sows deep discomfort in myself and many others. The only legal limitation appears to be a promise not to use this information to connect to remote services. The new iOS feature means that a Customs office can browse through a device -- a time limited exercise -- but not download the full contents.
from Another iPhone Change to Frustrate the Police
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