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People need to accept that the moment you’re face to face with a cop, software isn’t going to restore accountability on the spot or give you an edge against an adversary that has the monopoly of violence. If your threat model is that you should be prepared for a cop to seize either your physical driver’s license or your phone, you should make sure you carry the one you care the least about with you.

The intent is that you tap the phone on a reader and that it doesn't leave your possession.

In many locales they will not be able to retain a phone legally without court order because of laws/rights around search-and-seizure.

Unlike a state-issued ID, the understanding is solidly that the phone is the citizen's property.

> legally

There's the problem. Cops do plenty of illegal things all the time.

That's before even getting into how civil forfeiture exists as a massively profitable and federally-approved end-run around the Constitution.