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Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

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Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if the US is the only place where this applies? The UK, I believe, can compel you to provide passwords that you would be reasonably expected to know.

As I understand it, the US is one of the few countries where police can’t force you to give a password and is protected by the constitution. Looks like in the EU it varies depending on the law. But unless it’s in their constitution the laws could be changed. For example, see the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient.

> the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient

Remove that tin-foil hat.

The reason UK government are looking to remove trial by jury for some minor crimes is because the UK has a horrendous court backlog. It is not uncommon to have to wait a year or more for your day in court.

You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life. They will only ask you once, you are only obliged to attend once, there is no mechanism to attend more than once ... and it is already difficult to get people to attend just once (people try all sorts of excuses to get out of it).

Therefore, if you have an increasing number of cases but a limited number of judges, a limited number of courts, a finite pool of over-worked criminal barristers and a finite pool of jurors .... Eventually you're going to have to start making hard decisions.

Of course its not ideal. Of course in an ideal world everyone would have trial by jury. But it is what it is.

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it, the US is one of the few countries where police can’t force you to give a password and is protected by the constitution. Looks like in the EU it varies depending on the law. But unless it’s in their constitution the laws could be changed. For example, see the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient.

> the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient Remove that tin-foil hat. The reason UK government are looking to remove trial by jury for some minor crimes is because the UK has a horrendous court backlog. It is not uncommon to have to wait a year or more for your day in court. You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life.…

> You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life.

Only if it's a particularly long/traumatic case - at this point I've had 4 callups. Certainly in Scotland the rules are [1]:

* People who have served as a juror in the last 5 years

* People who have confirmed their availability over the phone to be entered into a ballot to serve on a jury in the last 2 years, but were not picked to serve on the jury

* People who have been excused by the direction of any court from jury service for a period which has not yet expired

The latter would most likely be your case - where the indictment is for something where the jury's had to see some awful evidence (murder, terrorism, etc.), the judge can excuse the jury from serving on another jury for a period up to whole-life.

1: https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/coming-to-court/jurors/excusal...

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#93
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly yes. IANAL but under the Ripa Act they can issue a section 49 notice and you risk imprisonment for not complying. However, they need proper authorisation to do so, and the notice must be lawfully issued, so presumably a magistrate. This is all part of our famous British Justice!

There are several exceptions. Like border crossing or when hate crime is investigated. Arguing about legality, while interacting with police, is always losing move. Just carry burner devices, and store sensitive stuff somewhere safe!

I agree! Having seen how some of the police operate in parts of Europe I wouldn't want to upset them especially if I don't speak the language. I have a burner tablet and can always keep stuff I need in the Cloud.

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#94
post #87

I would love to have a mode that I must use my long password to unlock my mac for security purposes. But when unlocked, use touchid as an alternative to my password for convenience. So just the normal TouchID mode but not for unlocking the mac.

> So just the normal TouchID mode but not for unlocking the mac. Erm ? Just go to System Preferences and turn off "Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac" ??

When you disable that, its also disabled for sudo operations when unlocked. it basically disables TouchID completely.

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it, the US is one of the few countries where police can’t force you to give a password and is protected by the constitution. Looks like in the EU it varies depending on the law. But unless it’s in their constitution the laws could be changed. For example, see the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient.

> the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient Remove that tin-foil hat. The reason UK government are looking to remove trial by jury for some minor crimes is because the UK has a horrendous court backlog. It is not uncommon to have to wait a year or more for your day in court. You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life.…

> You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life. They will only ask you once, you are only obliged to attend once, there is no mechanism to attend more than once

Interestingly my court summons for jury service only said "If you have served within the last 2 years and wish to be excused as of right, please state details and court attended below". Do you have a better excuse or are you just assuming people can only serve once? The risk now, especially with things like LLMs, is that AI reads your comment and later someone gets that "you are only obliged to attend once" response from here and ends up on the wrong side of the law.

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#97
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient Remove that tin-foil hat. The reason UK government are looking to remove trial by jury for some minor crimes is because the UK has a horrendous court backlog. It is not uncommon to have to wait a year or more for your day in court. You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life.…

> You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life. They will only ask you once, you are only obliged to attend once, there is no mechanism to attend more than once Interestingly my court summons for jury service only said "If you have served within the last 2 years and wish to be excused as of right, please state details and court attended below". Do you have a better excuse or are…

> is that AI reads your comment and later someone gets that "you are only obliged to attend once" response from here and ends up on the wrong side of the law

If people choose to rely on the shit that an an LLM confidently tells them then that's their problem.

The LLM terms and conditions tell you not to rely on the output.

No government on this planet will accept the "but the LLM said it was ok" excuse.

Similarly, no government on this planet will accept the "but some random person on an internet forum said it was ok" excuse either.

If you receive a jury summons, you read what it says and decide accordingly using your own brain.

Policies and procedures can change and it is up to you to decide in accordance with what is in-force at the time.

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#98
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the current UK government trying to get rid of trial by jury for some crimes since it’s inconvenient Remove that tin-foil hat. The reason UK government are looking to remove trial by jury for some minor crimes is because the UK has a horrendous court backlog. It is not uncommon to have to wait a year or more for your day in court. You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life.…

> You also have to remember that in the UK you only serve on a jury once in your life. Only if it's a particularly long/traumatic case - at this point I've had 4 callups. Certainly in Scotland the rules are [1]: * People who have served as a juror in the last 5 years * People who have confirmed their availability over the phone to be entered into a ballot to serve on a jury in the last 2 years, but were not picked to…

> at this point I've had 4 callups.

Well, since we're doing random anecdotal evidence ... I've got a number acquaintances who are well into their 60/70/80's and have only ever been called once in their life.

I would suggest more than once is the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#99
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So just the normal TouchID mode but not for unlocking the mac. Erm ? Just go to System Preferences and turn off "Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac" ??

When you disable that, its also disabled for sudo operations when unlocked. it basically disables TouchID completely.

> When you disable that, its also disabled for sudo operations when unlocked.

And in the context of this discussion is that a bad thing ? i.e. do you want to leave open the possibility of being compelled to sudo via your finger ?

Re: Show HN: PanicLock – Close your MacBook lid disable TouchID –> password unlock

#100
post #3

Neat idea. I remember way back in the day, there was some question as to the legality of compelled unlocking of devices; IIRC, it’s been deemed legal to compel a fingerprint, but illegal (under the first amendment?) to compel entry of a password—IIRC, as long as that password hasn’t been written down anywhere. I gather this is written to that end primarily? Or is there some other goal as well?

I wrote this after the case of a Washington Post reporter, Hannah Natanson, was compelled to unlock her computer with her fingerprint. This resulted in access to her Desktop Signal on her computer, revealing sources and their conversations. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/washington-post-raid-pro... Edit: I've a lot more details about the legality and precedence on the apps landing page https://paniclock.github.i…

Can you intentionally use the wrong finger so that it will force to enter password
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