The FBI used the face of a suspect to unlock his iPhone in the Ohio case

When Apple launched Face ID with the iPhone X last year, it raised an interesting legal question: can you be forced to unlock your phone by watching it? In an apparent first, Forbes reports that the FBI has asked a suspect to unlock his phone during a raid in August.

In August, the FBI searched Grant Michalski's home for evidence of his shipment or reception. They were armed with a search warrant[[[[warning: this documentation contains explicit descriptions of sexual abuse]This allowed them to search Michalski's computer for evidence, and during the raid, the agents recovered their iPhone X.

Agents who found the iPhone asked Michalski to unlock the device via Face ID, which he did. They have "placed the [phone] in airplane mode and examined it by manually viewing the files and folders and documenting the results with images. "

As my colleague Adi Robertson pointed out last year, the courts have ruled that there is a difference between something like a facial recognition system or fingerprints and a passcode that you enter into your phone. . Since Apple and other companies lobbied for facial recognition systems, it was only a matter of time before such a case came up.

While Michalski was cooperating on the scene, the FBI was locked out because he did not have his password. They sought and obtained a second search warrant, which gives them the power to conduct a more thorough search of the aircraft. It does not seem that they will again use Michalski's face to unlock the phone; The affidavit indicates that the Columbus Police Department and the Ohio Criminal Investigation Bureau both have devices that allow them to bypass the access code of a telephone.