--- title: Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off... description: Law enforcement obtained a warrant authorizing them to unlock a Washington Post reporter's phone using biometric authentication (fingerprint or face scan)... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/washington-post-raid-is-a-frightening-reminder-turn-off-your-phone-s-biometrics-now-7qvg0leal twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone’s Biometrics Now | daily.dev og:description: Law enforcement obtained a warrant authorizing them to unlock a Washington Post reporter's phone using biometric authentication (fingerprint or face scan)... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/washington-post-raid-is-a-frightening-reminder-turn-off-your-phone-s-biometrics-now-7qvg0leal og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/7qVG0Leal.png og:image:alt: Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone’s Biometrics Now og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone’s Biometrics Now **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 6 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Law enforcement obtained a warrant authorizing them to unlock a Washington Post reporter's phone using biometric authentication (fingerprint or face scan) during a raid. The warrant included restrictions preventing investigators from asking which specific finger she uses, influenced by recent case law treating biometric unlocking as protected testimony under the Fifth Amendment. Security experts recommend disabling biometrics in high-risk situations and using alphanumeric passphrases instead, as biometric authentication can be compelled while passwords generally cannot. Turning off your phone puts it into an encrypted state that requires a password to unlock. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How biometrics work on your phone: Face ID, Touch ID, and the Secure Enclave](https://daily.dev/posts/how-biometrics-work-on-your-phone-face-id-touch-id-and-the-secure-enclave-p45u4fyvu) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Hong Kong Police Can Now Demand Phone Passwords Under New Security Rules](https://daily.dev/posts/hong-kong-police-can-now-demand-phone-passwords-under-new-security-rules-wmlt7rxoh) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [39 New Methods That Compromise Passkey Authentication](https://daily.dev/posts/39-new-methods-that-compromise-passkey-authentication-z1hysnxm6) · BleepingComputer · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [You've been targeted by government spyware. Now what?](https://daily.dev/posts/you-ve-been-targeted-by-government-spyware-now-what--qpbdfx5tf) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#mobile](https://daily.dev/tags/mobile), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy), [#encryption](https://daily.dev/tags/encryption) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/washington-post-raid-is-a-frightening-reminder-turn-off-your-phone-s-biometrics-now-7qvg0leal) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone’s Biometrics Now","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/washington-post-raid-is-a-frightening-reminder-turn-off-your-phone-s-biometrics-now-7qvg0leal","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/washington-post-raid-is-a-frightening-reminder-turn-off-your-phone-s-biometrics-now-7qvg0leal"},"datePublished":"2026-01-30T21:44:00.175Z","dateModified":"2026-01-30T21:44:20.357Z","description":"Law enforcement obtained a warrant authorizing them to unlock a Washington Post reporter's phone using biometric authentication (fingerprint or face scan)...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/dcc63bec92002f7eb7fedab31541af04?_a=AQAEulh","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/dcc63bec92002f7eb7fedab31541af04?_a=AQAEulh","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/washington-post-raid-is-a-frightening-reminder-turn-off-your-phone-s-biometrics-now-7qvg0leal","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,mobile,privacy,encryption","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone’s Biometrics Now"}]} ```