TheAgitator.com
Internal Documents Warn Arizona Cops About Smart Phones
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011Last week’s big LulzSec (pre-disbandment) dump of Arizona police info apparently included some documents telling police to search the iPhones of arrestees for specific apps, including OpenWatch, a simple app for recording people (targeted at authorities) without it displaying on the phone that they’re being recorded. The police were also told to look for speed trap identifying apps and an app that lets people spoof caller ID numbers. As we’ve discussed a few times, there are some legal questions about whether or not cops can just search your iPhone during, say, a routine traffic stop, but tragically a few courts have said it’s fine. That seems rather troubling, as the cops can search your phone after just a routine traffic stop… and then potentially get you in more trouble just because they don’t like the types of apps you have?
Separately, the article notes that the Justice Department has been sending around notices to local law enforcement, telling them to be aware that iPhone users have a feature that lets them remotely wipe their phones. This is part of the mobile me service, and the wiping has a perfectly legitimate purpose: to let someone who has lost their phone or had it stolen, to wipe the data from the phone. It’s pretty useful, really. But, to police who are seizing phones and want to search them later, they’re scared that evidence can be destroyed this way, so the Justice Department is telling them to store the phone in Faraday bags to keep them disconnected from any network, so they can’t receive the “wipe” signal.
Okay, don’t most people ‘lock’ their phone with a password?
I’m deeply disturbed by the very thought that cops can just rifle through your phone without a warrant.
There is no safety issue, It’s clearly not a weapon or being used to smuggle drugs or any other possible exigent circumstance.
The very thought that if a cop asks you if you have a cell phone on you is going to compel you to hand it over is chilling. If you say “yes”, then in his mind, he has the authority to ‘order’ you to hand it over. If you say “no”, then in his mind he has the authority to find out if your lying.
Here would be a great app…a password protection where if you give one password it opens the phone and if you give another, specific password it wipes the phone. So if they make you give them the password you give the ‘wipe it’ password.
Re #3 Chris in AL
I can see it now. “Oh no! In my distress at being handcuffed, I must have accidentally given you the wrong password! I’m soooo sorry! At least _you_ were the one destroying evidence, officer. I never touched it after you wrested it from my grasp.”
Of course, that won’t _really_ fly.
That’s basically standard in the iPhone. You can have it set up so that after X number of failed login attempts, it wipes the phone. The problem with wiping is that it can take about 20-40 minutes on a 8GB phone (took that long on my now-dead 3G). Therefore it is quite likely that you’re going to get caught and charged with destruction of evidence if you set it off yourself (what a lot of people would consider, if they knew about the manual wipe feature). The best solution would be to start “playing with your phone,” drop the number of failed login attempts to the lowest and try to get the phone to as many failed login attempts you can before handing it over.
someone needs to invent a ‘nosy cops’ game.
Alternatively, for jailbroken iPhones, someone could write a daemon that keeps track of the SIM card and when removed, executes a forced manual wipe. The cops would never see THAT coming ;)
I was referring to when the cops demand it without a warrant. If there is no crime being investigated, searching your phone is a fishing expedition. If you did it when a warrant was in play I suspect you would be in trouble. Then again, forcing you to provide your password is forcing you to help them incriminate you. Seems like they can seize the phone but it is up to them to successfully extract evidence.
The bomb squad should xray them first too in case there’s C4 and a detonator.
Devil’s advocate…completely outside the discussion of whether or not they *should* collect a given phone…if they do have a valid reason to collect it for evidence but don’t have a warrant to search (trafficking or a contract murder investigation, mob ties etc) the phone specifically then removing the battery or w/e so it can’t be remotely wiped is a perfectly valid concern where a given criminal/organization might be concerned about destroying evidence.
You guys are all worried over nothing. Eventually none of this will be a problem because you’ll have to register these kinds of apps with the government and the government will have its own password and its own “undo” button. They will, of course, also have the option to delete anything they don’t like without it time stamping the deletion.
And the mainstream media and most of the public will completely see the need for cops to have these powers because, after all, the world is full of evil people and cops need every tool they can get to keep us safe from them.
@Mike T
I think it would be possible to set up a fast wipe app that only goes after certain files. Frankly, who needs their music list wiped (unless you got some of the Bieber on there and don’t want that used in court) or their grocery list app purged? I can’t imagine it would take long to wipe the call logs or the critical media, personal files, or location history. Hell there’s some Tasker program guides that can almost do this already.
Until recently, I only had a ‘dumb’ phone, it’s a samsung with no real features, and no ability to run ‘aps’.
So I got a fancy new phone! An HTC G2. This thing is awesome! I use it all the time, but not for making calls! I actually make very few calls.
Anyway… the phone number they gave me was not new, it was previously owned by someone in the ‘hood in LA. Probably a drug dealer or something. I still get calls like “Homes! Where you at?” but not in clear English like that… it’s all ‘hood speak. Usually I don’t understand what the person said at all. They also sound like they’re totally baked out of their mind… What’s funny, though… is that as soon as I say “Excuse me? I think you have the wrong number.” they switch to perfect English and are completely lucid and understandable. LOL
I also get text alerts from some reggae bar. I have no idea what they mean or how to turn them off.
I’m just waiting for one of them to get arrested, their phone confiscated, and me ratted out as a “Drug dealer” in a plea deal. And since I’m in another state, I’m clearly a criminal mastermind running the drug trade on the entire west Coast.
I guess I should change the number to my old one, and finally decommission the Samsung.
A fast wipe app isn’t a bad idea at all. It could be configurable to only wipe those things you specify. And really the only things you’d be terribly worried about would be your contact list, browsing history, email and social networking passwords, etc.
Also, the idea of giving a cop the wrong password and having stuff wiped wouldn’t be destroying evidence at all if there is no probable cause for search. Not to say they wouldn’t try to prosecute, but still.
An even cooler app would be to set it up to secretly start recording when certain conditions are met such as uncharacteristic search patterns being used against the phone. That could get very interesting. Especially if the recordings were sent off site.
Bob#2: You’re still allowed to not answer.
@Bob
Your asset is about to get forfeitured.
@Dave
After all, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’ve got nothing to hide, right?
Oh, and here’s another thought. If a cop asks you if you have a phone, you can simply refuse to answer based on your Miranda rights. Without probable cause, he can’t search your car. So always leave your phone in your car and out of sight if you get pulled over. Also, turn it OFF.
How about an app that uses fingerprint identity software to recognize any of the fingerprints of the user to unlock the phone and wipe it if anyone else tries to unlock it?
@JLA – A retina scanner would be even better.
#11 | Dave Krueger |
Actually, they’ve done you one better. I saw this documentary where they had a secret command bunker underground at this big company. They have a prototype computer array that connects to every cell phone and uses the signal from the phone to create a giant sonar-based surveillance system.
They can see and hear anything happening with a cell phone in the vicinity. In the documentary they used it to track down this crazy criminal who liked to wear clown makeup.
Cyto … I suspect you have a few bats in your belfry.
Um, protecting evidence against remote wiping is ENTIRELY reasonable, as are charges against anyone who tries to destroy evidence.
There was an issue here in a murder case where someone wiped an iphone which had critical evidence, and they had to find alternate evidence, interviewing the family repeatedly to nail down exact times and so on – unnecessarily distressing.
Protecting yourself from unwarranted search and seizures is also reasonable.
I have a jailbroken iPhone and use an app-specific password protection application called Lockdown Pro. It doesn’t actually encrypt any of the data, just prevents function calls to the apps themselves unless validated. Also, the only option for automatically wiping the phone is after 10 tries, but there are mandatory wait periods that grow in length before you can even get to the 10th try. Also, to ssh into the file system you have to know the root or mobile password, which I suppose they could brute force with the right amount of time. There might be other security related features or ways in to the phone, but these are the ones that I know of.
this who discussion of password protection/wiping is interesting but a little bit moot. Before I say any more, password protecting is a very important thing to do but up against cops who have an insatiable appetite for cool/expensive gadgets…well like i said moot.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/04/michigan-state-police-we-only-grab-your-cellphone-data-with-a-warrant.ars
basically it grabs all the memory (memory dump) bypassing the password and thus any wipe functions attached to the login.
the only real security against that is full encryption
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/guides/2011/01/why-you-should-always-encrypt-your-smartphone.ars/2
You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Of course, the Indiana Supreme Court completely disagrees with us on that one. And I’m pretty sure that the laws on preserving evidence are written so that once you suspect that you are being investigated you have a duty under the law to preserve the evidence. I know that this is the case for things in the workplace, like documents and emails.
And just like perjury, they make the penalties for that extra double-harsh to act as a deterrent from attempting to circumvent the legal system.
My solution to this problem? My phone is just an effing phone. No 4G, no apps, no GPS. It has a camera but only because its just about impossible to find one these days that doesn’t. But I wouldn’t try using it to record the PoPo. See, they have these other nifty gizmos nowadays like ballpoint pens with camcorders in them (for about $30 with 8GB storage). When was the last time you heard about the cops confiscating a pen? From what I’ve seen, all these fancy apps have pretty much one purpose…to show your friends all the fancy apps your phone has. And even if you do use them, do you really need to have technological distraction every minute of your life everywhere you go? A classic case of just because we can, doesn’t mean we necessarily should.
Call me a luddite (and I’m sure you will), but when I’m idle or stuck waiting somewhere, I occupy myself with some ol’ fashion human conversation or inner contemplation. And when I do want to play a game or watch a movie or look up an address or whatever, I’ve got this neat device that does so far far better than any phone…its called a computer, which permanently and securely resides in the sanctity of my own home (which all us regular readers know is hardly unassailable by Big Brother, but at least won’t be exposed because I failed to halt for a full 3 seconds at that stop sign…).
Exceptions granted for those who must frequently travel for business and such, but I’m guessing less than 10% of us really have that need. I’m not justifying or excusing these intrusions by any stretch, but fact is that one of the many costs of all this (largely unnecessary) gadgetry is the ever-increasing loss of privacy and independence. Is that really worth being able to play Farmville in the grocery line?
(apologies if this posted tiwice – I mistyped my email in the first submission, and its been sitting in moderation limbo for 20 minutes now)
Dal, your solution is a lot like someone who doesn’t have a car because he might one day have an accident. There are certainly tradeoffs with anything, but it seems pretty paranoid to refuse to use amazingly useful technology on the off-chance that it MIGHT be problematic if police seized it.
I’m irritated that police abuse our rights by searching things illegally (and I’m just as irritated at some allegedly legal searches), but eschewing a modern phone for the reasons you cite really has nothing to do with this issue.
I’m with you , Dal. I don’t even have a cell phone at all. The last thing I want is for people to be able to get in touch with me wherever I am.
Leon Wolfeson –
You’re right if it’s a criminal investigation. But there have been a number of incidents now in which police have collected cell phone data during a routine traffic stop.
Zeb, if you don’t want people to be able to get in touch with you, phones now come with an amazing new feature. You just touch the “decline” button and you don’t talk to the other person. It’s incredible technology.
David,
Did you read my very first sentence there that said I did in fact have a cell phone? It just doesn’t have the ability to, say, virtually flip a coin (that actually exists, btw). Also, my choice to have a phone that is actually just a phone had very little to do with the possibility of police seizure and much more to do with not cluttering my life with useless BS (or paying $100+/month for crappy web access when I can just wait a bit to get home and do so on my full sized dedicated computing machine, and see it on a 46″ HD LCD screen…). But that part about not having every intimate detail of my life exposed by a random traffic stop part is also pretty good.
I would, however, love to hear some examples of these “amazingly useful ” apps that make modern civilization possible.
Well, there’s ‘Angry Birds’ for one….
In other words, Dal, you’re admitting that a) your comment is irrelevant here AND that you don’t know the actual features of the modern smartphones you’re saying you don’t want. Thanks for clearing that up.
Apple says
“(If) Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is not connected to the Internet. You can still display a message on its screen or initiate a remote wipe, and it will be received once your device comes back online.”
Does anyone know how long a wipe signal will last? It sounds like that as soon as it can connect, it can be wiped. The cops better have a whole Faraday room.
Separately, the article notes that the Justice Department has been sending around notices to local law enforcement, telling them to be aware that iPhone users have a feature that lets them remotely wipe their phones.
Most smart phones allow this, because to be Exchange compliant, it has to be available as a standard feature.
If I lose my phone, my system administrator can remotely wipe my phone to protect the security of our network.
Only cops would see this as a sinister haxxor tool, when in reality, it’s a perfectly normal enterprise requirement to hook a phone up to a corporate network.
Does anyone know how long a wipe signal will last?
The wipe signal is very brief. A few seconds, if not less.
It’s no more complicated than telling a remote computer to start formatting its own drives. The wiping is done by the phone, not the remote server.
How long the wipe takes, I cannot say.
I would, however, love to hear some examples of these “amazingly useful ” apps that make modern civilization possible.
Tweetdeck took down a sitting congressman. I’d say that’s pretty important to modern civilization.
When was the last time you heard about the cops confiscating a pen
Shove one in a cops face during a traffic stop and see how long it takes him.
I’m not an expert in the matter, but a wipe that’s sufficent to thwart forensic reconstruction of data takes too long. I’ve always thought that any device with memory should include incendiary charges! ;)
If a phone is encrypted, a wipe can be instant. The data is still there, but it cannot ever be decrypted. I’m not sure if the new iPhones do it this way. Of course, if there is a secret back door put in by the phone manufacturer, the data may still be recoverable.
I would, however, love to hear some examples of “amazingly useful ” apps that make modern civil possible. I read this and every other site from my phone through Google Reader, if I was chained to a desktop you wouldn’t have the time or inclination to keep up with the myriad of information sources that I do on a daily basis.
Plus there’s flash porn.
First, not everything you pick up has to be used to the hilt. If you don’t want to be bothered by phone calls? Don’t answer them! If you don’t want to constantly be at someone’s beck and call? Grow some balls and tell them no!
As to super useful aps: there are zillions. I’ll point out 3:
Calculator. Who carries a calculator? With an app for your phone, you can carry one with no overhead.
Bar code scanner. This is awesome! If I think an item at the grocery store looks iffy, I just scan it. It tells me what the local prices are. It even works with those goofy square ones they put on electronics.
Speak and find thing. You go to the Auto Part store, but they don’t have the part for your Dodge! Oh Noes! click… “Auto part stores!” Boing, a GPS driven list of nearby stores.
Can you live without this crap? Yes. Here’s why I bought mine: I own property in the middle of nowhere. There is NO cell service. I like to use Chain Saws, Tractors, and assorted hydraulically operated equipment where no one can hear me scream. Android phone works with WiFi. Boing! Signal!
Then I discovered all these cool aps, like the 3 I just pointed out. The Android kicks the crap out the older, ‘phone only’ phones.
I am not a lawyer but one thing pops out and if anyone wants to comment, please chime in. I have an I-Phone, passcode protected. OK, cop stops me orders surrender of the I-Phone and asks for the passcode. I refuse citing the Fifth Amendment of self incrimination. Do I have perform an act that would reveal information that is incriminating?
#45 DocHoliday916
This is the kind of shit I think about. Now, most of the time? If a cop stops you a cell phone will never even come up. Why would it?
But if a cop stops you and SPECIFICALLY ASKS YOU if you have a cell, it’s game on.
There are exactly 2 reasons you could be asked this:
One: Some legitimate reason. Say… a tanker truck exploded a mile back and he’s looking for footage. Insanely unlikely, I know.
Two: He’s on a fishing expedition.
If he’s on a fishing expedition, you’re already done. You’re giving up your phone or going to jail on a bullshit charge, or both.
What do you do? First: Ask “Why do you want to know?”
If a tanker truck exploded, or whatever legitimate reason, he has no reason to not tell you that. For that you should cooperate. If you have video, offer it to them.
Any other response? Your answer is no. Then the refusal to allow your vehicle to be searched. Then the drug dog. And the alert. And the search. Ultimately you will be arrested. Shut the fuck up. Demand a lawyer on their dime.
Another worry is your GPS. If you were doing 70 in a 50 yesterday it has been recorded. parked outside your pot dealer’s last week? Recorded.
Technical question: can an iPhone “know” if it has been put in a Faraday bag (as distinct from being in a location with poor reception, like a tunnel) just by the patterns of received radiation (if any)?
@47: parked across the street from a GF’s apartment, when the GF happens to live across the street from a pot dealer (unbeknownst to her and you). recorded.
#47 GreginOz
It’s my understanding that you would have to install a GPS tracking app on your phone for it to track your location like a black box of some kind. Of course, some over active ‘detective’ might do that for you while you’re a guest at their fine facility if he convinces himself that you’re ‘guilty’.
There’s no shortage of horror stories about people hounded by wack job ‘detectives’ that end poorly. Just look at what happened to Sal Culosi.
My concern would be the fact that my phone contains the connection info for my WiFi networks. Sure, it would probably be a departmental violation to park outside my house and invade my computers, and of course, WiFi security isn’t totally bullet proof to begin with. But the difference between actively breaking in and sneaking in with a purloined password is legion… almost certainly enough to stay under the radar of department policy.
A sufficiently wack job ‘detective’, who convinces himself of my ‘guilt’ could easily plant files on my computers that way. I’d love to be able to say that can’t happen. That there are no cops that crooked. But I can’t.
#48 Buddy Hinton
Short answer? I don’t know. But I do know that there are signals your phone COULD be getting all over the place. GPS, WiFi, Cell towers. If you’re in a populated area, the odds of a total blackout are really slim. You may not have ‘signal’ in the darkest tunnel, but if your phone had a monitoring app that received absolutely no signal from any source for say… an hour… if’s safe to say something is up.
But the point is moot. If people figured that out, and the app became common, police would just start taking batteries out of phones.
#46 Bob
Photos of accidents etc I don’t mind surrendering. The accident investigation board will need the pictures. Cop pulls me over for speeding and sees the phone then wishes to search the car and the phone, the donut dirtbag is going to have to get a warrant.
I thought you could demand a subpoena before surrendering a camera or cell phone that contains evidentiary material.
I thought you could demand a subpoena before surrendering a camera or cell phone that contains evidentiary material.
1. This is one legal position.
2. Another legal position is that “exigent circumstances” will always exist so a warrant is never needed once the popo spots the camera.
3. A third legal position is that exigent circumstances sometimes exist depending upon the following probabilities that objectively exist in any given situation: (i) evidence will be tampered/destroyed in the hands of the cameraman; and (ii) evidence will be tampered/destroyed in the hands of the police department.
>> so the Justice Department is telling them to store the phone in Faraday bags to keep them disconnected from any network, so they can’t receive the “wipe” signal.
LOL, version 2 of the app will wipe the phone if it DOESN’T get connected to a network for ‘x’ number of hours, and won’t allow access to the phone until it CAN access a network once it’s kicked in.
…And version 3 will back itself up very regularly to an encrypted location (outside the USA) so that the wipe won’t hurt anything legit.
>> Alternatively, for jailbroken iPhones,
You could GET AN ANDROID INSTEAD!!!
:^D
>> Actually, they’ve done you one better.
Actually, this is far less improbable than you think. The FBI has had hardware/software for decades now that can pick up the em interference from your *wired* printer-computer connection and get a hard copy in their van of what you are printing in your house.
And I am a computer pro, so, yeah, this IS real.
So the capabilities suggested there are far less improbable than you’d think.
>> The cops better have a whole Faraday room.
LOLZ. The Fed is paying towns of 10,000 people to form their own SWAT teams. You think they aren’t going to pay for a Faraday room?
“Sorry, Chief, here’s that 10 million your requested, but we’ll have to cut out that request for $15k…”
>> Call me a luddite (and I’m sure you will)
No, we’ll call you what we will, say you’re old fashioned and that you’re over the hill… :^D
> basically it grabs all the memory (memory dump) bypassing the password and thus any wipe functions attached to the login.
Clearly there is a market for phones (not made in the USA, of course) which don’t allow downloads/memory dumps unless the phone is on and receiving service….
IgotBupkis – Okay. So they’ll get the dump by cracking the phone open, and removing the flash memory to be read. Oh, no phone to return now.
And with all due respect, Radley, I’m a UKer and have different priorities to you. I’m far more concerned with people hiding crimes – especially financial crimes (tracking some of this for a documentary atm) – with this kind of thing.
“The very thought that if a cop asks you if you have a cell phone on you is going to compel you to hand it over is chilling. If you say “yes”, then in his mind, he has the authority to ‘order’ you to hand it over. If you say “no”, then in his mind he has the authority to find out if your lying.”
Why would anyone even answer that question? Don’t people understand that they have a right to remain silent? Don’t folks realize that if a cop wanted to search for a cell phone during a routine traffic stop, he/she would need a warrant unless the driver consented to a search? Don’t folks realize that if the cop wanted to seize a cell phone, they would also need a warrant in the absence of consent in the vast majority of cases?
Why would someone make it easy for a cop to violate their rights by either answering questions they have no legal obligation to answer or consent to a search or seizure? After all, if they have the authority to search or seize in any particular case, your consent is irrelevant. If they don’t but do anyway, your consent or lack thereof makes all the difference.
Terry:
You have to answer the question. Failure to comply will be seen as proof of guilt, whereby a bullshit reason for your arrest will be generated. What reason? Whatever that department will allow. Once you’re in custody… your phone is theirs. Oh, and of course… your car is being searched too.
Obviously, I think that’s bullshit. Government rent-a-thugs are chain stopping cars looking for drugs that in almost all cases, aren’t there. Even if these guys FIND drugs, they have no impact whatsoever on the drug trade. It’s a pointless waste of money, and a serious erosion of liberty.
Obviously, you should never consent to searches. I will not. But a lot of people foolishly believe that “They have nothing to hide” so they will.
As to answering the obviously ominous question “Do you have a cell phone?” You have to answer it. Failing to do so will virtually guarantee that the cop will ratchet up the situation and will already be thinking of ways to gain compliance through arrest. The WRONG answers are “Yes” or “No”. There could be no right answer, but your only shot is to have the one cop on the road not looking for an arrest. I think your best shot is to answer with the question “Why do you want to know?” Then just shut the fuck up if it goes south.
My problem with this, is the automatic ability to search your phone upon any arrest. No! That’s bullshit! They should have to get a fucking warrant! Data in your phone is not “In plain sight”. There must be constitutionally legal due process applied to obtaining it.
So, here’s the answer to the “cops taking cell phones” concern:
-Download a note-taking app for your phone.
-Password protect and encrypt it.
-Leave a note in your note-taking app about a minor infraction, like going 5 miles over the speed limit on your way home.
Now, your phone has incriminating information on it, and you can legally and without committing perjury invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid providing any assistance to the police in gaining access to it. But if they have the technology to break through your security and get in anyway, they find nothing but an admission to a minor infraction. And if they trigger an access-denial mechanism that scrambles the encryption key while trying to get in so that the data can never be accessed, well, their problem, isn’t it?