Source: AFP Contributor / Getty

If you get jammed up by the feds, can they use your face to unlock your phone? An Ohio man found that yes they most certainly can.

In what is the first case of such a scenario globally, Forbes reports that back in August during a raid of Grant Michalski’s home they used his face to unlock his iPhone X while searching for evidence of him sending or receiving child pornography.

The FBI did show up to his residence armed with a search warrant (contains graphic material) giving them access to his home and computer to search for evidence, his iPhone X was recovered in the raid. The agents who found the device asked Michalski to unlock his phone using the facial recognition technology, and he complied. Once he opened the phone, they put in airplane mode and searched the phones documents and files and documenting what they found by taking pictures.

While trying to transfer over files from the phone, the FBI was locked out of the phone again because they did not have Michalski’s passcode. They asked for and was granted another search warrant allowing them to conduct a more thorough search of the phone without having to use Michalski’s face this time around. Instead, they used devices both the Columbus Police Department and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation have that can bypass the passcode protection.

This situation shows the Law is terribly behind the times when it comes to technology and protecting people from incriminating themselves. There has been no challenge to the FBI using Michalski’s face but thanks to the Fifth Amendment that can be changed. This isn’t the first time Apple and its product were involved in a criminal case, back in 2016 the company took on the FBI in San Bernardino over access to a locked iPhone.

Do you think it’s fair game? Or is the law overstepping? We are interested to see how this situation plays out.

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Photo: AFP Contributor / Getty