Hacker News Reader

Some cops carry a device that drains debit cards[0], there’s no reason to expect they won't soon have a device that automates draining all accounts available on your phone or anything that looks like a private key.

[0] https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/07/02/48...

View on HN

Looks like the device is a card reader with some sort of backend api to freeze/seize accounts. Presumably the the only way it works is that the issuers are willing to give law enforcement a blank check to do whatever they want. I don't see how that's the case for cryptocurrency wallets, which are at least password protected.

This is definitely a concerning device, but you would think that it would be harder to take password protected keys off of a device than it would be to swipe a credit card.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com