• no he didn’t. They asked for a password that the phone would accept. They weren’t even supposed to ask, but he gave them one. They’re the ones who entered it on the phone. And by extension they’re the ones who erased the phone.

  • Regardless of how it happened, entering a fascist state means that you must be prepared to wipe all your devices before crossing the border. They’ll naturally fabricate justifications to employ totalitarian measures as it’s their directive to do so. If they seize your items and violate your privacy, which they will do, at least there’s nothing but a blank slate. These days I feel it’s more important than ever to have two devices, with one being a basic phone for communication only and the other a smartphone that’s backed up and ready to be wiped at a moments notice, then stuffed into your luggage.

  • When Tunick provided his passcode and the authorities entered it, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart.” The authorities seized his phone anyway, before telling him that he was free to go and could enter the United States.

    Very glad to hear that he’s a free man while the courts try to figure out what to do.

    Also it’s hilarious that he didn’t wipe it. The officers did it. I think it’s going to be very hard to get a conviction of this activist when it was the officer that wiped the data.

  • Would love to see how that happened. Extra points if they are the ones that entered it.

    • They were:

      When Tunick provided his passcode and the authorities entered it, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart.”

  • Citizen enforces his own right to the Fourth Amendment and is prosecuted by the government for not letting them try to find incriminating evidence on him. For something. Maybe. Because he looks suspicious.

    I hope that lawyer gets it thrown out. I’m not holding my breath. We’ve gone so far into fascism I’m not sure it’ll take anything less than violence to end it.

    • Unfortunately, the 4th is pretty well destroyed at the border. And within 100 miles of the border.

      • they’ve expanded the 100 miles to 250, and include cities with international airports now. we’re at a point now where USBP jurisdiction is wherever a USBP agent happens to be

  • That’s precisely what a duress password is for. Feature working as intended, get a warrant.

  • Pick a lane. Either it counts as US soil so you need a warrant or it doesn’t so theres no reason for US law to apply until the person is approved.

      • 11 hours

        They have a point though. Technically from what I’ve read just living near an airport would give ICE the authority to search your phone and anything else you might be carrying if it’s within a certain mile radius. Even if you aren’t using the port of entry (airport for instance). Regardless of whether or not they have any other form of probable cause.

        I don’t understand how others don’t understand that. Because it’s a hell of a conclusion to come to.

    • He didn’t delete it. The officer did.

      I wonder if he’ll sue them for damages

  • FYI if you are using GrapheneOS with the duress password, you can natively backup your phone. Its in settings.

    • It’s easy enough for anyone willing try. Grab any Pixel from the last few years, plug it in to a computer, and click buttons in your web browser on the GOS website and watch GOS get installed on your phone. The instructions hold your hand the whole way through.

    • I soooo want that feature, but less and less phones will even let you unlock your bootloader. Graphene OS doesn’t get to support many phones.

      • The bigger issue with GOS compatibility is the ability to relock your bootloader and a few other security features.

        Also, Motorola is releasing a GOS compatible phone next year. They consuled with the devs on what features were needed

  • 18 hours

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampering_with_evidence

    Tunick’s attorneys accused the government of demanding access to his phone under the pretext of searching for child exploitation imagery, but without providing evidence to justify its suspicion.

    Even if I had more information, I still wouldn’t have the law chops to predict where this may lead.

    • I don’t have those chops either. Also NAL. The wiki page says Tampering charges require there to be an ongoing investigation, which wasn’t the case here, so I’m thinking it wouldn’t apply. But! I wonder about spoliation. Spoliation before a case is brought, while not illegal per se, can result in negative inference,

      spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a trier of fact can draw from a party’s destruction of evidence that is relevant to an ongoing or reasonably foreseeable civil or criminal proceeding

      Negative inference, to my NAL understanding, means the tampered evidence may be taken in the worst light for the defense. Here, it’s all resting on flimsy and politically motivated pretext with no evidence. Still.

      Needs an immigration lawyer to give an answer to this, but I’m thinking it may be legally safer to have strong encryption and refuse to unlock, rather than to wipe. Not unlocking isn’t tampering, so no spoliation, but wiping might be. Well, safest of all is to use a burner. But next best, strong encryption + don’t unlock. CBP can confescate the device, but they cannot compel you to produce a pw or unlock code.

      • 17 hours

        From what I’ve gathered, I think you’re right to assume it’s legally safer to refuse to unlock rather than wipe. Also, worth noting that you can be compelled to unlock with biometrics, but not a password. On grapheneOS this means simply shutting off/restarting your device as it requires a pw after a fresh boot, even if biometrics is enable.

        • 13 hours

          Even on iOS, you can disable biometrics by entering the power/SOS menu. Just hold the lock button and volume down for like two seconds, and biometrics are now disabled until the passcode is entered.

          Worth noting that this doesn’t actually re-encrypt the device. The device boots in an encrypted state, and entering the passcode allows the phone to unencrypt itself to function. But disabling the biometrics doesn’t re-encrypt the device. You would need to reboot to accomplish that. But if you’re able to access the power menu, you’re probably able to hit the “Power Off” option too.

          I only make the distinction because cops have started imaging devices after confiscating them. If they manage to image your device while it’s unencrypted, they can take their time with whatever new exploit/bypass is discovered in the future. But if the device is encrypted when they image it, they’d only get an encrypted data blob and would need to actually break the encryption instead of being able to use a passcode bypass method.

          iOS actually has a hidden “reboot if inactive after a little while” feature, specifically to re-encrypt an idle device. Most users only encounter it when they wake up in the morning and have to enter their passcode. But the point is that cops usually process devices in batches, so it usually takes them at least a few hours to get to your device. So if the device has been idle for a while, it will quietly reboot to encrypt itself. This also helps protect against future passcode bypasses that may be discovered, because an attacker would only get the encrypted data blob if they bypass the code on an encrypted device.

        • you can be compelled to unlock with biometrics, but not a password

          Yah, I’ve been trying to get my friends to use a pw rather than biometric unlock, for that exact reason.

          I’m batting like 0 for 5, lol. Biometrics are just too convenient I guess. Plus they don’t think it will impact them personally. Which is prob true. I still think it’s best to use the way that preserves more civil rights. I just can’t convince them.

    • Lol I think they’ll loose. It’ll be good to have legal protection for this tech.

  • Sounds like the cops entered the passcode… Therefore the cops erased the evidence.

    who knows what would’ve happened if they bothered to get a warrant first.