The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that police cannot constitutionally force a person to unlock their smartphone by giving up their passcode. The ruling, made Tuesday, has been praised by the Electronic Frontier Fountain (EFF).
A Siri Shortcut activated by the phrase “Hey, Siri, I’m being pulled over” could prove valuable in the event of a police traffic stop. The shortcut triggers your iPhone to start recording video from its front-facing camera, pauses any music, sends your location to a trusted contact, and uploads the video to iCloud or another cloud server of your choice.
The shortcut is designed to help protect users during interactions with law enforcement.
Protests across the United States led to a spike in interest in iPhone applications that let users listen to police radios. Several of these now rank very high on App Store top charts.
New York City police officers will soon use an iPhone application to record their daily activities. The officers previously used paper memo pads for these notes, going back to around 1900.
The NYPD’s switch to an iPhone app for taking notes is yet another step in the force’s modernization using Apple devices.
Apple has booted an app used by protesters in Hong Kong out of the App Store. Called Hkmap Live, the crowdsourced app uses reports from a Telegram group that tracks the whereabouts of police and protesters. It also contains information about things like arrests of people wearing protest-related paraphernalia and the use of weapons like tear gas.
“Your app contains content – or facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity – that is not legal,” Apple told the app makers. “Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement.”
Google Maps has added the ability for drivers to see speed limits and speed traps in more than 40 countries.
The feature was previously exclusive to Waze, which is also owned by Google. It started making its way to Maps in January, but was limited to a small number of markets.
Being forced by police to unlock your smartphone with your face or fingerprint is illegal, a California judge recently ruled.
Previous U.S. judges had ruled that cops could use biometric data to make you unlock your device, but not your passcode. The newest ruling could be a landmark case for protecting the privacy of citizens, although law enforcement officials aren’t terribly excited about it.
Apple is planning to present police officers in South Korea with a plaque to celebrate their work cracking down on almost $1 million worth of fake accessories.
The fake products were supposedly shipped in from China under the guise of being official Apple products. Their distributors are under investigation for potential fraud and trademark violation.
Police might have cracked the crime ring behind the spate of snatch-and-grab robberies in Apple Stores across California, but Apple’s taking no chances. According to a new report, it has contracted local police departments to bring officers in as extra security in some of its stores.
Specifically, the report notes that Apple is doing this in Sacramento. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple followed a similar strategy in other locations which have been the target of criminals.
The Roseville Police Department in California has released a photo of two of the thieves who robbed a local Apple Store this week.
The crooks stole 20 iPhones, two MacBook Pros, and one iPad mini. Fortunately no-one was hurt during the robbery, which involved no weapons.
