VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Nov. 1 (UPI) -- According to a Circuit Court judge in Virginia, police can make people unlock their phones with a fingerprint but not a passcode.
The ruling came from the case of David Baust, an Emergency Medical Services captain who allegedly tried to strangle his girlfriend.
The police wanted Baust to unlock his phone, which used a passcode, so they could see if there were any videos on the phone that could be used as evidence. They believed the incident had been recorded, and the phone could have been used to record it. The judge ruled that giving out a passcode is "divulging knowledge," while unlocking a phone with a fingerprint is more similar to providing something like a handwriting sample, which courts can ask for.
The ruling comes from a lower court, so it does not affect jurisdictions around the country, but the case could be used as legal precedent for future situations in Virginia.
