RetroFed
US citizen charged after GrapheneOS phone wipes during airport search
https://www.techspot.com/news/113236-us-prosecutors-charge-atlanta-man-after-grapheneos-phone.html
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The motion also states that Tunick asked four times to speak with a lawyer and was denied each time.
Fuck all the way off. This man did nothing wrong during this interaction, its police that fucked up.
AndyIt’s a scary moment, but I’m very gently optimistic that it will set some good precedent, and that he might have a strong case to counter sue over the blatant infringement of his rights.
This case is really strange.
The case raises questions about which constitutional rights apply at US borders, including international airports, where authorities have broader search powers.
On the one hand, destroying evidence during an investigation or which someone believes might be linked to one is a generally bad idea. However, to me it seems like the border agents should have had no right to search the phone without a warrant. Seize maybe, but not search. If the search was illegal and the case dismissed (especially since Tunick was not read Miranda which seems to imply there was no arrest?), then I think it would be hard to argue that any evidence was destroyed because the investigation itself would have been performed illegally.
In any case, doing this in a legal search of the phone (with a warrant) is most likely illegal.
He could just as easily argue he was forced to give the password under duress and accidentally gave them the wrong password.
As such, its highly improper for them to have tried to take data from his phone without a warrant and try to argue he destroyed evidence when he has not been charged with a crime.
The motion also states that Tunick asked four times to speak with a lawyer and was denied each time.
Also highly illegal.
He could just as easily argue he was forced to give the password under duress and accidentally gave them the wrong password.
It’s not really a case of duress. Legal searches are also done under duress, and you can’t just argue to a judge “well I got nervous and shredded the documents”.
What it really boils down to is whether border agents can search a phone without a warrant on entry, or whether the search was illegal. As part of it, they also need to decide whether a person has their Miranda rights during entry to a country. The answer, in my opinion, should be obvious (the alternative is you have no rights on entry), but with the current courts, who knows what they’ll decide.
Also highly illegal.
This is where the question about Miranda rights comes in, and whether the question of whether the constitution grants rights during entry comes in as well. If you have no rights, then it can be argued you have no right to demand a lawyer either.
Che BananaWhat’s the big deal? He did comply, it was the border agents that asked for the phone and password, and was granted both.
Repeated violations of his rights, no warrants, no formal arrest.
Fuck all the way off. Zero case.
If you have a post-it in the case with this wipe password, would this get around the act of doing it yourself?
I feel like if they’d charge you for doing it they’d also charge you for the general intent
Courtney (she/her/they)They’ll charge you for anything and everything they think they can.
This. A charge isn’t a conviction, though.
Plausable deniability might help you here as long as you can think of a valid reason why you had that code on the note. It could be as simple as “this is the code I needed to remember for this one game” or something too. As long as you don’t tell them that the note contains the code to your phone, you can pretend the note contains a code of some other value instead later on and let them shoot themselves in the foot.
As a general rule, most lawyers would tell you if you are under arrest to say nothing more than what you are required to by law. Since this is at a border, it gets weird, but that’s what makes this case unusual as well. Under normal circumstances, they might seize the phone as evidence, but saying nothing might result in them wiping the device themselves before they ever get a warrant for the passcode.
this law doesn’t cover this context. no warrant, no arrest, no lawyer. if police recrive a warrant for a house and the person on the warrant wiped his phone then he broke the law.
HOWEVER… graphene OS should NOT be a part of the conversation. we will have to putlaw toilets since they can flush away evidence.
sbeakWhy is GrapheneOS highlighted? Even iPhones wipe and/or lock themselves if somebody tries to access it without permission, and you can probably configure a standard Android phone go do something similar.
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Pretty sure you have to be under arrest for them to be allowed to conduct a search off your person, and have a warrant for them to search the phone.
The 4th amendment is largely suspended at international border crossings. It’s a travesty. This has been steadily built in supreme court rulings since 1925, but a 1977 ruling says the searches are inherently reasonable because they occur at the border. No probable cause or warrant is required.
If you really want to be depressed, Google “4th amendment free zones” which essentially means this doctrine applies within 100 air miles of an international border crossing.
Which of course is almost nearly everywhere in the United States at this point since I think most states have an international airport
Was fairly certain the above only applies to land/sea borders for this reason.
Airports themselves count, but not a ~100mi radius. I think.
yes and they’ve extended the boundrie sof these borders to such an extent that 2/3rds of americans are located inside them; effectively meaning that 67% of americans have no such constitutional rights.
Article says he asked for a lawyer 4 times, got none.
Also I’d love to get the audio/video feed of the interaction. I imagine bullet-head cop holding the phone and demanding “the passcode”
“Passcode for you is 3475417, pig”
Dude, learn about the laws of a Fascist country before you try and enter. Border agents do not have to let you access a lawyer, you actually have no legal rights, even as a US citizen.
No General Right: Travelers at a U.S. port of entry or border checkpoint do not have a constitutional right to have an attorney present or provided during routine questioning or administrative processing.
You want to act like a tough guy, enjoy your hourly cavity searches.
Not at points of entry or border regions :(
No General Right: Travelers at a U.S. port of entry or border checkpoint do not have a constitutional right to have an attorney present or provided during routine questioning or administrative processing
So the issue is that he entered a code that wiped his data, but what is he entered a code that opened a dummy profile?
Wipe the original data but inject some dummy data instead so it doesnt “look” wiped.
Actually brilliant idea IMO
as soon as it’s unlocked, they hook it up to cellbrite, which will detect all the profiles.
No no
It wipes the original data still, just without showing it
The dummy profile looks like the original, like theres some photos and contacts, some texts and a few apps, of course setup by the user
gonna have to be quick. as soon as it’s unlocked, they’re going to hook it up to USB. now, having the duress password completely disable the USB port too, now we’re getting somewhere.
It’s not even enabled by default in GrapheneOS, is it?
The officer typed the code. Prison seems a bit much, but I do hope he looses his job and has to pay compensation to the victim
The law doesn’t split hairs like a child.
IF (extremely huge “if") I ever go to the US, it will be without a phone. I’ll just bring a meshcore device for me and whoever accompanies me and a digital camera (thoroughly wiped before going there). I’ll add some laptop or handheld (a wiped steam deck could be perfect) just in case I need internet access for something like my bank, but in absolutely no way I’m travelling there with my phone or any kind of personal device that has the slightest portion of my personal data for an asshole to try and find it.
I just won’t travel there🤷
I can’t be 100% sure because the company I work for has now some ties to the US so there is a very remote possibility that one day I’ll have to go there for work, but yeah, that would be the only way I’d go there.
That would mark you as suspicious and you will get detained.
As will:
A burner phone
a recently wiped phone
an analog phone
Just avoid the country.
In my case, I’d be suspicious even with a phone since I use a grapheneOS pixel, don’t have any social media outside this (which, by the way was created with a burner email) and rarely take pictures of anything (i have a polaroid for that). My phone would look suspicious AF just because how barebones it is so at that point, if I absolutely had to go there, I wouldn’t bring it with me and take my chances.
I don’t really think the US has anything to offer that would make it worthwhile tbh. There’s so many beautiful countries in the world to see
but what if you have a fetish for taco bells?
When I recently reentered the country this year there literally was no security process other than scanning my face and my passport at an automated thing. After that, it was just walk on through. No talking with any agents, no search of my carry on bags (at least until going through TSA to fly domestically).
I think people’s checked baggage was heavily scrutinized and scanned, but not any carry on. It was honestly kind of crazy. Like what if I had come from a country with virtually no exit security, and then was not flying domestically after that? I feel it would have been quite easy to smuggle things into the country in that case. Meanwhile they occasionally freak out and force people to let them search their phone? It makes little sense to me