Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#161

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:38 PM UTC

sambeau wrote: post #160

pavel_lishin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But why not just avoid keeping weird stuff on your phone? Keep it somewhere else. My girlfriend texting me about medical issues isn't "weird", but I still don't want my mom to read it if I happen to hand him my phone for a few minutes. My mom emailing me photos of my childhood self taking a bath isn't weird, but I wouldn't want my friends to see them. My friend asking me if I'll be showing up to the Atheist Associa…

My friend asking me if I'll be showing up to the Atheist Association meetup isn't weird, but I wouldn't necessarily want my boss to see the message. Wow. I'm glad I don't live in a country where that would even be an issue. It would never occur to me as something anyone would need to be private in any country(until now). (Or do you work for a fundamentalist religious organisation?)

That was actually hypothetical - none of my current or past bosses would care. We did have a lot of religious clients at my old job, but they probably wouldn't care, either.

There are, however, places where it would definitely lead to a change in the work environment.

> It would never occur to me as something anyone would need to be private in any country

Even in countries ostensibly ruled by sharia law?

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#162

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:42 PM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #74

elliottcarlson wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the only advantage is that police are called about 30 seconds sooner" Unless the thief takes off with the victims phone as well. Additionally there are sadly instances where the theft at the ATM is just the start of other crimes towards the victim.

Unless the thief takes off with the victims phone as well. I was thinking of the best case scenario. So the robber takes the phone as well, and the person calls it in 15 minutes later when they get to a phone. When the average police response time is about ten minutes, the difference between a call being placed 30 seconds after the robbery and 15 minutes after is pretty much nil. Additionally there are sadly instance…

> But let's say the victim is kidnapped or something at this point. Are the police going to be able to do anything?

They'll know that I was in distress RIGHT NOW, instead of two hours later when I fail to show up for that party I told my fiance I'd meet her at - and even then, she would have to wait 22 hours before filing an official police report.

The possibility of kidnapping elevates this to a whole new level.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#163

Post by fierarul » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:44 PM UTC

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/10/07/Robot-Road...

Quote: Which has revealed a feature that the Tab needs: a button in Gmail called “in strange hands”. The device is profoundly shareable, but mine has my Google email, full of threads that are distinctly not for public eyes. So I need to switch to disable that while letting people look at interesting web sites or play games or check stock prices or whatever. End Quote

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#164

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:44 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #144

nodemaker wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do because for the criminal there is no way to know if you used a duress code or not.So if you cant really get into a better position in the eyes of the criminal by not using it,you might as well use it and get cops to know you are in trouble. Not to mention that cops will potentially have a live video feed of the crime scene as the crime is being committed!

If they're part of a gang with a mole in the police they'll know - and who are you to say they aren't?

Or better yet, what if it's an elaborate CIA plot to convince you that the moon landing was real? Plotted by intelligent elephants, who breathe fire and crap diamonds! They're a part of the deBeers cartel, and when you're asleep, they rearrange your underwear!

How deep do you want to make your conspiracy theory go?

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#165

Post by seiwyn » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:44 PM UTC

jerrya wrote: post #16

Somewhat related: I've long wondered why ATM cards don't have something similar. 1234 is my regular PIN. 1235 is my help I'm being robbed PIN -- it dispenses the cash, calls the cops, and tags the video.

I used to intern at a company that manufactured credit cards. If I recall correctly, this actually is in place in South American countries. Due to relatively low fraud rates, credit and debit card security in the US is far behind the rest of the world.

Edit: Somewhat replying to a sibling comment. In countries with less effective police, they originally put withdrawal limits on the cards, but this just caused muggers to hold their victims until the victim's account was drained.

Further Edit: I couldn't find any online sources for this information, so I could be remembering incorrectly.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#166

Post by burgerbrain » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:06 PM UTC

kaybe wrote: post #127

burgerbrain wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? The officer was the one that suggested the possibility in this scenario.

Yes, but the answer shows that you were aware of it before, which means you have already come in contact with the concept, leading to a higher probability for you to actually use it.

I don't think that it does. I think the most it can be said to demonstrate is that you are aware of how the burden of proof is supposed to work in the United States.

In other words, it's his job to prove things, not yours.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#167

Post by viraptor » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:13 PM UTC

benvanderbeek wrote: post #2

Privacy is important. But why not just avoid keeping weird stuff on your phone? Keep it somewhere else. Or say, "hold on let me log out of my bank app" or something.

My bank sends me summary of my account every once in a while. I don't want a random person to see it pop up.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#168

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:19 PM UTC

Karellen wrote: post #150

pavel_lishin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't people suggested this with regards to TrueCrypt's hidden volumes, with "rubber-hose cryptography" being the most common answer, and "yeah, well, prove that this is your REAL phone unlock code" being the second most common.

I think you mean rubber-hose cryptanalysis. I am amused by the idea of rubber-hose cryptography though - beating on the data until it encrypts itself!

Actually, an actual example would be cutting out someone's tongue to prevent them from speaking.

(Obviously this only worked for illiterates.)

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#169

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:23 PM UTC

lsb wrote: post #13

tadfisher wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prove that it isn't, officer.

No cellphones are allowed in top secret military locations in the US, because all can be remotely signalled to start recording audio. We know they'll turn a phone into a bug if they need to, so it's foolish to assume they wouldn't be able to get the real PIN.

Yeah, I'm sure that the Princeton, TX police department has access to CIA-level technology, and will use it to prove that I was texting while driving.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#170

Post by TheAmazingIdiot » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:24 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #128

botker wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.craigryder.com/linux-ubuntudebetc/x11-forwarding-...

Thank you. I will give it a try.

Do note that there are 2 ways to share a graphical user interface on X.

The first way is by remotely running a program on your own Xserver. The programs' processes occur on the remote connection and are sent down the SSH tunnel and show up on your display. This is the common way in Linux.

The second way is by an older program from the Windows world: VNC. VNC takes a local, running display (example: my gui) and allows someone else to view/control it at the same time I do. In this method, you both fight over the mouse and keyboard inputs.