Amanda Unvarnished

Here’s a case where a man got shot for reaching for his phone, the officer involved thought it was a gun.

“Hold on sir, don’t unlock that. There have been reports of people triggering explosives with their phones. Hand it to me and give me your passcode.”

This is easy as fuck. I could come up with 10 bullshit excuses to make you unlock your phone in as many minutes.

Don’t give cops a reason to take your phone. Your recording is likely your only protection.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/us/sacramento-police-shooting/index.html

—@rodhilton

You know what you can’t be doing if you hand your phone to a police officer, whether it remains locked on the ID or not?

You can’t be recording the police officer on that phone.

So let me say it real loud for the people at the back who think that the convenience of not carrying a 10mm piece of plastic is worth putting folks who are disproportionately targeted by police in even greater risk:

DO NOT PUT YOUR FUCKING STATE ID ON YOUR FUCKING PHONE.

—@rodhilton

The precautions that tech companies put in place (because historically they’re so very careful right?) are irrelevant when the people trying to bypass those precautions have the threat of state-sanctioned violence backing them up implicitly.

“Unlock your phone so I can make sure that isn’t a lock screen wallpaper”

See how easy that was? They can say whatever the fuck they want.

You ever try to “show your ID” by leaving it in your wallet? They make you take it out. Why? Because fuck you.

—@rodhilton

Yo this is getting boosted enough that I’m getting a lot of replies talking about the technical precautions that are taken to make this safe so let me be clear:

Folks like me were talking about how nervous it makes us that tech companies are keeping so much data on stuff like locations and even menstruation cycles. Folks like you called us paranoid.

Then states made abortion illegal & immediately police started subpoenaing that data to arrest women.

You’re wrong. Consistently and dangerously.

—@rodhilton

Just a friendly reminder that if you store your government ID on your phone and find yourself in a situation where you have to show a cop your ID, you’ll have to hand them your unlocked phone to do it.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/1/23745168/google-wallet-state-id-drivers-license-custom-cards

—@rodhilton