{"id":4430,"date":"2026-07-26T19:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T19:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=4430"},"modified":"2026-07-26T19:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T19:19:59","slug":"us-charging-american-citizen-wiping-phone-duress-password","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=4430","title":{"rendered":"The US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The government is prosecuting US citizen Sam Tunick for allegedly providing authorities with a \u201cduress password<\/a>\u201d that wiped his phone when they tried to seize it at Atlanta\u2019s Hartsfield-Jackson airport on January 24th, 2025. Federal agents detained Tunick at the airport, allegedly questioning him about child exploitation images. However, a motion filed by Tunick\u2019s lawyers argues this was simply \u201ca pretext for a fishing expedition into Mr Tunick\u2019s connections\u201d to the Stop Cop City<\/a> movement in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The government is turning to a little-known and rarely-used statute that makes it illegal to destroy or damage property to stop authorities from seizing it. They allege that Tunick used a feature of the privacy-focused GrapheneOS<\/a> to wipe his phone by giving authorities a duress password, instead of the actual passcode to unlock the phone. The defense has argued that the detention and seizure were unlawful, and therefore all evidence should be tossed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to Tunick\u2019s attorneys, agents refused him access to a lawyer, did not provide a warrant, or inform him of his legal rights. They also allege that access to his phone was sought under false pretenses. The government has countered that they were not required to produce a warrant because Tunick had not yet been granted permission to enter the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Marlon Kautz, a member of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund<\/a>, told the Guardian<\/a><\/em> earlier this week that, \u201cwe all have a right to secure our private data against unconstitutional searches. And we should \u2014 especially in a time of rising authoritarianism.\u201d Under the Trump administration, entering the US has become a much more fraught process, even for citizens who can face hours-long detention<\/a> and scrutiny of social media accounts. Most agree the only way to protect your data<\/a> is to delete it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government is prosecuting US citizen Sam Tunick for allegedly providing authorities with a \u201cduress password\u201d that wiped his phone when they tried to seize it at Atlanta\u2019s Hartsfield-Jackson airport on January 24th, 2025. Federal agents detained Tunick at the airport, allegedly questioning him about child exploitation images. However, a motion filed by Tunick\u2019s lawyers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[193,46,74,177,34],"class_list":["post-4430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-law","tag-news","tag-policy","tag-privacy","tag-tech"],"yoast_head":"\nThe US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"US citizen Sam Tunick allegedly gave federal agents a fake \u2018duress password\u2019 at the airport that wiped his phone when he tried to return to the US.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=4430\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border - 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