US citizen charged after GrapheneOS phone wipes during airport search(techspot.com)
875 points by eecc 13 hours ago | 670 comments
tl;dr: Federal prosecutors in Atlanta are charging Sam Tunick with destroying property to prevent seizure after his GrapheneOS-equipped Pixel phone wiped itself during a border search at Hartsfield-Jackson airport. Experts say it may be the first time US law has been applied against use of a privacy-focused operating system, raising concerns that the case effectively criminalizes GrapheneOS by default. Tunick's defense argues agents denied him counsel and used a child sexual abuse material pretext to investigate his ties to the "Cop City" protest movement.
HN Discussion:
  • Border agents have excessive power; travelers need better threat modeling for device searches
  • Users who enter duress PINs must accept the legal consequences of intent-based laws
  • Article is sensationalist; defendant was charged for his actions, not for using GrapheneOS
  • The statute cited doesn't actually apply since the device was being searched, not seized
  • Better technical approaches (plausible deniability, remote access, blank phones) should be used instead