Can FBI Collect iPhone 5S Fingerprint Data?

I hadn't even thought of this when I heard the news the latest iPhone will have fingerprint recognition. I love my gadgets, and think it would be handy never having to remember/enter a password again, but I already had qualms about this device. I know for a fact my fingerprints are on file as I have a concealed pistol license, so it wouldn't really deter me too much to know the gubment can snatch up my fingerprints, but for others I imagine that prospect is a little frightening. I hope it is anyway.

Al Franken recently asked CEO Tim Cook about the proliferation of these fingerprint readers in tech.

"Passwords are secret and dynamic; fingerprints are public and permanent," wrote Sen. Franken. "If you don't tell anyone your password, no one will know what it is. If someone hacks your password, you can change it—as many times as you want. You can't change your fingerprints. You have only ten of them. And you leave them on everything you touch; they are definitely not a secret. What's more, a password doesn't uniquely identify its owner—a fingerprint does. Let me put it this way: if hackers get a hold of your thumbprint, they could use it to identify and impersonate you for the rest of your life."

I think he made a good point, and glad he brought the issue to my attention. With only ten fingers, you're not going to be able to have more than 10 passwords to activate the phone. I'm sure you can opt out of using the thing, but most won't, and then there is the very scary thought of the Feds snarfing up all your prints.

Let's not forget about the potential for ne'er do wells to start snarfing up these prints. Everything has a a workaround, and I'm sure with enough motivation this new tech will become compromised. While highly unlikely, it would be theoretically possible for someone to get your fingerprint(s) and plant them.

I don't think Apple is being forced into introducing this to give the Feds more keys to unlock your personal life, I think it's smart business. The real question is whether or not it's smart for the consumer to use it. All this complacency and 'it won't happen to me' or 'I don't care who has my prints' is a push down a slippery slope. A very light one perhaps, but nevertheless a push.

Here are more of the questions posed:

(1) Is it possible to convert locally stored fingerprint data into a digital or visual format that can be used by third parties?

(2) Is it possible to extract and obtain fingerprint data from an iPhone? If so, can this be done remotely, or with physical access to the device?...

(10) Under American intelligence law, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can seek an order requiring the production of "any tangible thing (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items)" if they are deemed relevant to certain foreign intelligence investigations. See 50 U.S.C. § 1861. Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be "tangible things" as defined in the USA Patriot Act?

I don't think it's going to matter what Apple considers tangible, I think it matters if the FBI changes their mind or already does consider fingerprints to be. I have a sneaking suspicion they do.

Let's be real hear, the FBI isn't the concern. I think we all know who is, and they seem to have no issue with bending and skirting the law. See all the people that admitted to spying on loved ones. Now imagine one is in some way compromised either financially, by blackmail or perhaps a lover into planting some prints at a murder scene.

I know this is far fetched, but shoot it's a conspiracy site and either way I would rather people's personal data isn't mined and without cause.

What do you guys think?

reply to post by Domo1


Answer the title....YES.

Buy Droid.

whouwanttob
reply to post by Domo1

 

Answer the title....YES.

Buy Droid.

Buy Droid? Because everyone knows you can trust Google, right?

On Topic: Can FBI Collect iPhone 5S Fingerprint Data? Of course they can and so can every other Government alphabet agency. Who do you think 'suggests' these things to Apple?

reply to post by whouwanttob


Well, yeah. Until they adopt they same thing to compete with Apple. More concerned about the government's seemingly limitless authority to tap anything.

-------

This is not meant for you whounwanttob, I appreciate and agree with your reply. Vote with you're wallet etc.

I would appreciate it if we can have a little more conversation than 'Apple sux'. I know many people here hate Apple. I used to also. I still kinda do even though I'm typing on a MacBook that is charging my iPhone.

Again, I'm more interested in having a conversation about what should be monitored, what already is, and what the next encroachment of privacy will be.

When it comes to the government spying on you if you have to ask can they do it? Chances are yes they can.

Is amazing how the government and its spying mobsters are getting away with having Americans willingly giving away all the information they want with all the newest gadgets that most new generations are born into.

No laws, not dictatorship bills are necessary, people are more than willing to give away their life, from phones to online chats, social media and the latest, now paying to have their DNA processed via mail.

Oh, yeah, I almost drop my coffee when the first commercial from DNA disease mapping was playing on TV, yes you can pay to have your DNA collected so you know what diseases you could be more inclined to get due to DNA, guess what the collecting DNA databases are going to make a killing when people starts to pay while sending their DNA on the mail and is going to be willingly.

Incredible.

reply to post by Domo1


Sure they probably want it, they're LEO's first and spies second. Biometrics from millions of people is going to be something of interest to them. They already have access to millions of prints anyway. Every person who has applied for a concealed carry permit has to submit prints. This is not even including the tens of millions of prints they probably have access to from the military (they're printed too if I remember correctly, I was.)

Seeing how so much stuff is now on the cloud already I don't see a lot of use for the prints except to open individual phones. They'll probably use most prints (if they get them) running database search matches on whatever specific crime they're working on at the moment.

reply to post by Metallicus


I'm with you on that. I don't think trusting your phone is a good idea anymore, regardless of manufacturer or carrier.

Problem is I think a lot of people don't 'get it' as evidenced by all the numbskulls that brag about crimes committed on social networks (not that I have a problem with weeding them out per se).

reply to post by marg6043

Yes, 23 and me is simply stunning in its implications. The real scary thing is that, like drivers licenses and social security numbers, anybody can send anybody's sample in for analysis.

reply to post by Bassago


Also the millions that have been arrested. I remember when I went to jail dude couldn't get the print off of one of my pinkies and the side of my palm. 'I guess in the future commit crimes with that side of your hand.' I would appreciate someone coming up with some kind of super hero name for me. Left Handed Lightning or something.

I don't really take issue with my prints being taken in either scenario, but I do take issue with some normal person being slapped in a database that probably isn't very secure just for accessing their phone.

Technology is such a blessing but also a pain. I'm starting to feel we make too many concessions for convenience.

reply to post by Domo1


I don't think people should be worried about that single device so much. What people should worry about is the factor of it becoming a requirement for a person to use fingerprint/iris identification to access the internet at all! That is the next step my friends.

Why should a person care? If people are going to be viewed as bad for viewing content such as ATS, and the next step is biological identification to access the web, they can tie every website you view directly to your identity.

If it ever does become a requirement to scan any part of the body to access the internet, I won't be one of the people that's using the internet anymore.

reply to post by buster2010


Well said, and starred. Really if you can dream up a way to surveil someone it's probably been thought up and implemented.

It's always frightening when I agree with you.

reply to post by greencmp


For what I have learned about the biometrics agenda it goes from the states level to the fed, the gathering of information will be finalized by 2017, when the database of all citizens will be linked to their DNA profiles probably.

I will not be surprised if the new future generation of Phones will required your DNA as a password.

Yes I know it sounds like science fiction movies, but I bet that todays technological advances used to be our grandparents fiction movies.

Retina, fingerprint and Rchips will be a thing of the past and an old technology. Just a drop of blood or a simple hair sample, even just a saliva swipe is all that will be needed to know everything about you.

Let's see. Yep! Now that your iphone/cellphone has a GPS device on it running at all times even when you think
it is turned off it is not!

Now add your fingerprint to it, say somehow your the luckie one who their's no record of having one. Bingo!
They do now! The Bible said something about a chip? Looks to be a cellphone now does it not?

Can get one at any Walmart, cheap no plan's coming up soon and then the getting rid of the cash idea and swiping your phone to pay. Cleaver Huh? Already an App that when you walk into a store it will Fill you in on
what you bought before and let you know what's on sale as you walk in.

Small little steps to this great plan and you think this is cool and you tell all your friend's! Kinda like when you Vote for a bill that sounded so Good but later found out the small print we all failed to read!

So now they know where you are at and know it is you! At all times, all gets places on record, for later; yrs later
if need be to back trace anything. Free info for them though, every call you make and to whom, where you have been and while driving too!

How else do you think when you get into an auto boo-bo they Know you were Texting at the time?
Think about it!

reply to post by InFriNiTee


I don't feel like I'm going to be able to express my point well, but bear with me.

This is why I take issue with countries that have 'bullying' laws. So you can get in trouble if you call someone something, or insinuate they are a something something. The next step is going to be requiring everyone to be identifiable on the web with unique user IDs and passwords for anyone that wishes to go online. But you can share those IDs and passwords, so the next logical step is a fingerprint. But that can be faked so then it's retina, which will be faked, and then you have to have a camera with facial recognition software to log on and say lol to a cat picture.

So,what choice do we have? Humor helps.

I use iPhone 4S and I do not fancy my next upgrade, when my phone breaks, that I have to get that.

I don't use the passcode much, so why do I need that?

Of course it will be kept on file for when they need all this data to use against you.

How are they going to work around find my iPhone from another device if you can't lock it

Of course they can, so of course they will.

People stood in line all night long to spend their hard-earned money on a toy that stores your fingerprints for use by corporations and the government, either of which can "killswitch" the toy whenever its user starts doing things they don't like.

The masses are begging for a totalitarian government and they're completely oblivious to it. This is cultural stupidity writ large. Scratch that, this isn't mere stupidity anymore. These people are clinically insane, and have an extremely poor prognosis.

reply to post by Domo1


Well duh, we give them everything they need to pin point us anywhere for anything, just don't be a criminal and you are fine. I don't use it because I can't afford that phone, and with the fingers being cut off I'm cool with my Galaxy.

The answer is NO. The iphone 5s doesn't actually store your fingerprint. It scans your finger subdermal, then creates an algorhythm according to specific grooves of said finger. Up to 5 fingers.


“Touch ID does not store any images of your fingerprint. It stores only a mathematical representation of your fingerprint and compares this to your enrolled fingerprint data to identify a match and unlock your iPhone,” reads Apple’s support document. idownloadblog.com.