Ruling upholds cell phone privacy

Judge: People can’t be forced to use biometric features.

A federal judge in Oakland ruled that law enforcement agencies cannot force people to use biometric features such as facial-recognition to unlock their phones and other devices in a case that highlights the fight between Big Tech and law enforcement over users’ privacy.

The decision arose out of an extortion case in which two suspects allegedly used Facebook Messenger to threaten that if a man didn’t give them money, they would distribute embarrassing video of him.

Judge Kandis Westmore took no issue with authorities’ request for a warrant to search an Oakland home associated with the two men, and possibly seize cell phones and computers.

“The Government, however, also seeks the authority to compel any individual present at the time of the search to press a finger (including a thumb) or utilize other biometric features, such as facial or iris recognition, for the purposes of unlocking the digital devices found in order to permit a search of the contents as authorized by the search warrant,” Westmore wrote in her ruling. But the judge said that would be unconstitutional.

The Oakland case puts a new spotlight on the collision between the judicial system and rapidly evolving technology, said UC Berkeley law school teaching fellow Megan Graham.

“These are issues that judges are seeing more and more and they’re having to confront how we protect Constitutional rights when new technologies are involved,” Graham said Tuesday.

The Oakland judge said allowing authorities to force citizens to unlock devices via biometric features in this case would violate the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search.

The government’s request for intrusion into seized devices was too broad because it targeted anyone at the Oakland location believed to be a user of a seized device and wasn’t limited to the two suspects, Westmore said.