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Sortof off topic question. I've never owned a smart phone but might get one soon assuming I can find a decent one that will run grapheneOS. Is there an app th

Sortof off topic question. I've never owned a smart phone but might get one soon assuming I can find a decent one that will run grapheneOS. Is there an app that can be given permission to intercept the unlock code and upon receiving the panic/under duress code, discretely put the phone into a "parental controls" configuration that sandboxes all your data and only presents the storage you want the law enforcement children to see? Some cops use a USB device that pulls all the data from the phone. Is there a way to sandbox that data so they only get the data from approved apps and the forensics USB device does not know any better? i.e. not denied data, but rather can only see what you want it to see. Or should this be a feature request to the alternate phone operating systems developers? Maybe this duress code should also activate a timer. If the all-clear code is not entered in a user-defined period of time, the phone wipes all user data in the background resetting it to a brand new phone. Or maybe wipe the data for specified applications to not appear to destroy evidence? Maybe also send network notifications(s) to specific in case of mission compromise destinations? [Edit] Feature request update. This duress system should also log all the data that was added or planted after the duress code was entered, to log people planting evidence. Upload encrypted manifest,timestamps and checksums to remote site in the event law enforcement tamper with evidence.

calvinmorrison 5y ago
I don't know - but 1password absolutely does have this! Useful if you're in a scenario where you don't have the American version of human rights. You can hide stuff for a period of time
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  They call it "Travel Mode" (https://support.1password.com/travel-mode/ https://support.1password.com/travel-mode/). It's good to know it exists. The sad thing is, however, that even just knowing a name/identity is enough for motivated entities to "pull the thread" and go fishing on the internet for whatever they want.
colejohnson66 5y ago
If the police are aware of this “feature”, that’s an easy contempt and destruction of evidence charge among others. I’d recommend just not doing it.
- aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago
  Plausible deniability.
  - kryogen1c 5y ago
    Are you joking? This is the exact opposite of plausible deniability. This feature requires premeditated user action to hide evidence in an attempt to mislead law enforcement. It is illegal.
    - aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago
      No. I meant that “plausible deniability” is a thing, that if implemented properly will protect against these charges.
      - MichaelZuo 5y ago
        What happens when it becomes popular and police departments catch on? “plausible deniability” escalation is a two way street as others in this thread attest.
        hanniabu 5y ago
        Then anybody trying to stop them from continuing this will be demonized for "trying to take away law enforcements tools needed to do their job properly" and say that this person supports terrorism and all the usual tricks to manipulate public perception.
  - joconde 5y ago
    ...until the cops learn about that and add a countermeasure, then send you to jail for using it.
Jowsey 5y ago
I wonder if there'd then be a worse penalty if police were to discover you were doing this, were the wipe timer not to trigger, and if that'd be worth the risk. Definitely an interesting idea, though
sumthinprofound 5y ago
check out the Guardian Project's PanicKit. I'm not sure if it's still in active development but it looks like what you just described.
dredmorbius 5y ago
<strike>Siri</strike> <em>iOS</em> has an "I'm being pulled over" keyphrase which begins recording. There'be been a few "I'm being arrested" apps, which typically trigger by holding hard buttons (volume, home, and/or power), though I'm not aware of specifics. Most of these seem to date to the OWS protests of ... how did that happen ... a decade ago: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/help-im-getting-arrested/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/help-im-getting-arrested/ Freedom of the Press Foundation offers this advice doc: https://freedom.press/training/mobile-security-for-activists-and-journalists/ https://freedom.press/training/mobile-security-for-activists... (Initial misattribution corrected to iOS, not Siri.)
- latexr 5y ago
  > Siri has an "I'm being pulled over" keyphrase which begins recording. To clarify, it’s not a Siri feature but an iOS Shortcut (which you’ll need to download or recreate) invoked with Siri[1]. The actions and key phrase are customisable. [1]: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/17/21293996/siri-iphone-shortcut-pulled-over-police-starts-recording-video https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/17/21293996/siri-iphone-shor...
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    Thanks, corrected above.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
gwbas1c 5y ago
I think an easier approach is not to do anything incriminating on your phone.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  Look, we live in a society where drywall dust can get you jailed for 90 days because the cops think it's drugs. https://www.wftv.com/news/local/powdered-drywall-mistaken-for-cocaine-lands-innocent-oviedo-man-behind-bars-for-90-days/541985256/ https://www.wftv.com/news/local/powdered-drywall-mistaken-fo...
  - kingcharles 5y ago
    And powdered milk: https://www.channel3000.com/homeless-man-told-court-powdered-milk-was-cocaine/ https://www.channel3000.com/homeless-man-told-court-powdered...
- titzer 5y ago
  I for one, think we should not normalize a gestapo state and should absolutely push back on all forms of intrusion. Police have been caught planting drugs on suspects and it's really foolish to think they cannot plant digital evidence too.
- LinuxBender 5y ago
  True, but I accept the possibility that what is legal today may not be legal tomorrow and ignorance of the law is no excuse as they would say. I like having options.
- celeduc 5y ago
  "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."
- delecti 5y ago
  It's generally advised to not talk to the police because anything can potentially be incriminating. Given that, your advice effectively becomes "don't have/use a phone in the first place," and I don't fault someone who doesn't want to settle for that.
colechristensen 5y ago
The correct thing to do if you want your phone not to be searched is to shut it off. The tools used to search phones generally work with unpatched vulnerabilities and you don’t want to do anything that looks like tampering with evidence. When off the encryption of the device will be most effective and resilient to attack because nothing will be unencrypted until you enter your passcode at boot.
- hanniabu 5y ago
  Couldn't turning your phone off be seen as tampering with evidence?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - totalZero 5y ago
    If you haven't altered, destroyed, or concealed the physical phone in any way, then why would turning it off be considered tampering with evidence? Also, I believe there would be a burden to prove that some material stored on the phone would constitute "evidence." Pretty hard for the cops to do that if they can't get into the phone.
rootusrootus 5y ago
IMO, just reset the phone to factory before you head to the airport, and leave it that way as long as you are in a jurisdiction that makes you think your phone is in danger of being searched. Restore from a backup when you get home. If you do get searched, give them the phone and let them search it.
kingcharles 5y ago
The idea about planting data is important. The police did all sorts of weird shit to my digital devices. Would not have known about it except that a forensic guy was taking photos in the room and accidentally caught the police in the background making changes. Try getting your own forensic guy to see what changes were made. You need money for this. The court is supposed to supply you one, but often they do not, so you cannot show that the data was planted.
abandonliberty 5y ago
There's a strong possibility that Signal is already breaking Cellebrite https://signal.org/blog/cellebrite-vulnerabilities/ https://signal.org/blog/cellebrite-vulnerabilities/ >For example, by including a specially formatted but otherwise innocuous file in an app on a device that is then scanned by Cellebrite, it’s possible to execute code that modifies not just the Cellebrite report being created in that scan, but also all previous and future generated Cellebrite reports from all previously scanned devices and all future scanned devices in any arbitrary way (inserting or removing text, email, photos, contacts, files, or any other data), with no detectable timestamp changes or checksum failures. This could even be done at random, and would seriously call the data integrity of Cellebrite’s reports into question. ... >In completely unrelated news, upcoming versions of Signal will be periodically fetching files to place in app storage. I strongly advise against pissing off Signal by claiming you can hack them.

calvinmorrison 5y ago

I don't know - but 1password absolutely does have this! Useful if you're in a scenario where you don't have the American version of human rights. You can hide stuff for a period of time

crispyambulance 5y ago
They call it "Travel Mode" (https://support.1password.com/travel-mode/ https://support.1password.com/travel-mode/). It's good to know it exists. The sad thing is, however, that even just knowing a name/identity is enough for motivated entities to "pull the thread" and go fishing on the internet for whatever they want.

colejohnson66 5y ago

If the police are aware of this “feature”, that’s an easy contempt and destruction of evidence charge among others. I’d recommend just not doing it.

aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago
Plausible deniability.
- kryogen1c 5y ago
  Are you joking? This is the exact opposite of plausible deniability. This feature requires premeditated user action to hide evidence in an attempt to mislead law enforcement. It is illegal.
  - aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago
    No. I meant that “plausible deniability” is a thing, that if implemented properly will protect against these charges.
    - MichaelZuo 5y ago
      What happens when it becomes popular and police departments catch on? “plausible deniability” escalation is a two way street as others in this thread attest.
      - hanniabu 5y ago
        Then anybody trying to stop them from continuing this will be demonized for "trying to take away law enforcements tools needed to do their job properly" and say that this person supports terrorism and all the usual tricks to manipulate public perception.
- joconde 5y ago
  ...until the cops learn about that and add a countermeasure, then send you to jail for using it.

Jowsey 5y ago

I wonder if there'd then be a worse penalty if police were to discover you were doing this, were the wipe timer not to trigger, and if that'd be worth the risk. Definitely an interesting idea, though

sumthinprofound 5y ago

check out the Guardian Project's PanicKit. I'm not sure if it's still in active development but it looks like what you just described.

dredmorbius 5y ago

<strike>Siri</strike> <em>iOS</em> has an "I'm being pulled over" keyphrase which begins recording. There'be been a few "I'm being arrested" apps, which typically trigger by holding hard buttons (volume, home, and/or power), though I'm not aware of specifics. Most of these seem to date to the OWS protests of ... how did that happen ... a decade ago: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/help-im-getting-arrested/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/help-im-getting-arrested/ Freedom of the Press Foundation offers this advice doc: https://freedom.press/training/mobile-security-for-activists-and-journalists/ https://freedom.press/training/mobile-security-for-activists... (Initial misattribution corrected to iOS, not Siri.)

latexr 5y ago
> Siri has an "I'm being pulled over" keyphrase which begins recording. To clarify, it’s not a Siri feature but an iOS Shortcut (which you’ll need to download or recreate) invoked with Siri[1]. The actions and key phrase are customisable. [1]: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/17/21293996/siri-iphone-shortcut-pulled-over-police-starts-recording-video https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/17/21293996/siri-iphone-shor...
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  Thanks, corrected above.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

gwbas1c 5y ago

I think an easier approach is not to do anything incriminating on your phone.

ceejayoz 5y ago
Look, we live in a society where drywall dust can get you jailed for 90 days because the cops think it's drugs. https://www.wftv.com/news/local/powdered-drywall-mistaken-for-cocaine-lands-innocent-oviedo-man-behind-bars-for-90-days/541985256/ https://www.wftv.com/news/local/powdered-drywall-mistaken-fo...
- kingcharles 5y ago
  And powdered milk: https://www.channel3000.com/homeless-man-told-court-powdered-milk-was-cocaine/ https://www.channel3000.com/homeless-man-told-court-powdered...
titzer 5y ago
I for one, think we should not normalize a gestapo state and should absolutely push back on all forms of intrusion. Police have been caught planting drugs on suspects and it's really foolish to think they cannot plant digital evidence too.
LinuxBender 5y ago
True, but I accept the possibility that what is legal today may not be legal tomorrow and ignorance of the law is no excuse as they would say. I like having options.
celeduc 5y ago
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."
delecti 5y ago
It's generally advised to not talk to the police because anything can potentially be incriminating. Given that, your advice effectively becomes "don't have/use a phone in the first place," and I don't fault someone who doesn't want to settle for that.

colechristensen 5y ago

The correct thing to do if you want your phone not to be searched is to shut it off. The tools used to search phones generally work with unpatched vulnerabilities and you don’t want to do anything that looks like tampering with evidence. When off the encryption of the device will be most effective and resilient to attack because nothing will be unencrypted until you enter your passcode at boot.

hanniabu 5y ago
Couldn't turning your phone off be seen as tampering with evidence?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- totalZero 5y ago
  If you haven't altered, destroyed, or concealed the physical phone in any way, then why would turning it off be considered tampering with evidence? Also, I believe there would be a burden to prove that some material stored on the phone would constitute "evidence." Pretty hard for the cops to do that if they can't get into the phone.

rootusrootus 5y ago

IMO, just reset the phone to factory before you head to the airport, and leave it that way as long as you are in a jurisdiction that makes you think your phone is in danger of being searched. Restore from a backup when you get home. If you do get searched, give them the phone and let them search it.

kingcharles 5y ago

The idea about planting data is important. The police did all sorts of weird shit to my digital devices. Would not have known about it except that a forensic guy was taking photos in the room and accidentally caught the police in the background making changes. Try getting your own forensic guy to see what changes were made. You need money for this. The court is supposed to supply you one, but often they do not, so you cannot show that the data was planted.

abandonliberty 5y ago

There's a strong possibility that Signal is already breaking Cellebrite https://signal.org/blog/cellebrite-vulnerabilities/ https://signal.org/blog/cellebrite-vulnerabilities/ >For example, by including a specially formatted but otherwise innocuous file in an app on a device that is then scanned by Cellebrite, it’s possible to execute code that modifies not just the Cellebrite report being created in that scan, but also all previous and future generated Cellebrite reports from all previously scanned devices and all future scanned devices in any arbitrary way (inserting or removing text, email, photos, contacts, files, or any other data), with no detectable timestamp changes or checksum failures. This could even be done at random, and would seriously call the data integrity of Cellebrite’s reports into question. ... >In completely unrelated news, upcoming versions of Signal will be periodically fetching files to place in app storage. I strongly advise against pissing off Signal by claiming you can hack them.