Special PIN to delete some applications and data when the police or school demand an unlock?

by philg

Some friends and I were discussing a kid who was kicked out of a school in Maskachusetts:

kids were caught vaping at school. Their phones were searched. The Man saw they bought it from [the kid who was kicked out]. Also an administrator suspended another kid for 1 day because the kid has called him a name in a text to the other kid.

This kicked off a discussion:

  • Me: The state that says marijuana is essential complains about vaping?
  • Friend 1: Private school. [A kid] was taken from school in handcuffs.
  • Friend 2: How’d they get into his phone?
  • Friend 1: They told the kids if they don’t let them search their phone they will be kicked out.
  • Ukrainian friend: so they searched and kicked them out! they are like the Russians
  • Friend 2: Use third party app. Delete that app when compromised.
  • Ukrainian: ambush PIN. if compromised, give out a special PIN to law enforcement, then pre-set up set of apps are erased in the background.

The “ambush PIN” idea seems to have been implemented to some extent on Android. See “Privacy Lock adds disk wiping unlock code to your Android device” (2015). But it leaves the phone in a suspiciously empty state. If the vape enthusiasts had agreed to use Signal or Telegram, for example, and these apps got deleted with their “ambush PIN”, the school authorities would find a typical teenager’s phone full of photos and innocent text messages.

Related:

9 thoughts on “Special PIN to delete some applications and data when the police or school demand an unlock?”

  1. I presume that this school officially stands for “kindness”, “equality”, “mutual respect” and “diversity”! Therefore it is run by petty vengeful bureaucrats who behave like the inquisition.

  2. > Friend 1: Private school. [A kid] was taken from school in handcuffs

    There has to be more to the story then being shared on this exchanged. I don’t see why a cop would arrest someone with handcuff for vaping or selling vapers. Was the vaper some kind of illegal subsistence?

    > Friend 1: They told the kids if they don’t let them search their phone they will be kicked out.

    Clearly, the kids didn’t know their rights. How old are they?

    • The kids should be taught by the parents to say that they will comply with demands of this kind only if parents are present.

    • Why would a cop kill a man for selling loose cigarettes? What they do doesn’t have to make sense, because they face no consequences for their actions.

    • For every 1 bad cop story you hear on the news, there are 100’s of other bad gang stories that never make the national news — you are lucky if they get a passing mention on the local news for a day or two. Care to tell me why? I will tell you my opinion after hearing yours.

  3. Some smart tokens have a feature like that. One PIN unlocks the secrets, and another PIN wipes the token. In an authority demands the PIN, you could give the wrong one. Some of them also wipe the token after 10 or so failed PIN attempts.

    • He-he-he. Reopen MA! What, is MA now taken over by Fidel Castro forces? Actually Comrade Fidel was considered to be on liberal side of communism spectrum. MA is for Maoists.

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