During and after yesterday’s Apple announcement of its FaceID unlocking feature for its new iPhone X, some brief discourse began on the Ars #staff Slack channel concerning legal rights when your face is your new passcode. It’s a big deal, as this is the future of smartphone unlocking—largely because Apple says so.
“This is the future of how we’ll unlock our smartphones and protect our sensitive information,” Apple VP Phil Schiller said.
So let’s start off with one fear an Ars colleague brought up. He suggested that the cops could take your phone and hold it up to your face to unlock it. Presumably, a mugger or nefarious actor could do the same thing.