New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Sat, 25 Jul 2026 03:36:09 GMT

petterofcats@mastodon.world — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 03:36:09 GMT

“The motion said that the border agents claimed they did not need a warrant to search Tunick’s phone because he had not yet crossed the U.S. border. The U.S. government has long claimed it can search and seize people’s devices without a search warrant or court order until they are permitted entry to the United States.”
Had not crossed the border yet… so outside the jurisdiction of the border agents…
Seems like they admitted they had no jurisdiction.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:56:37 GMT

cheryla@universeodon.com — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:56:37 GMT

@siguza @zackwhittaker

That was the tip-off - Untied States.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:24:35 GMT

axomamma@mastodon.online — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:24:35 GMT

@zackwhittaker omfg.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 23:18:14 GMT

praxiscode@mastodon.online — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 23:18:14 GMT

If they did not need a warrant to search Tunick’s phone because he had not yet crossed the U.S. border, then wouldn't that also mean that U.S Federal law would not apply?

@zackwhittaker

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 22:41:57 GMT

rl_dane@polymaths.social — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 22:41:57 GMT

@zackwhittaker

Funny how they think they can prosecute him under US law while simultaneously denying him his constitutional rights.

At this point, I'm decided. If I ever leave the U.S. while these jackals are in power, it will be a one-way trip.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:44:28 GMT

swisstxlady@sfba.social — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:44:28 GMT

@siguza @zackwhittaker Priceless.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:25:54 GMT

iaintshootinmis@digitaldarkage.cc — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:25:54 GMT

@zackwhittaker
CPB:you're under arrest.
Tunick: For what?
Destroying evidence.
What evidence?
The evidence on your phone.
But you didn't see any evidence on my phone.
Well we would've.
But you didn't.
Your honor, we'd like a warrant for this man.
For why?
We have reasonable suspicion that if searched he might have evidence justifying our suspicion.

What in the Monty Python is happening here.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:13:04 GMT

felis_catus_domesticus@toot.community — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:13:04 GMT

@zackwhittaker

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:09:58 GMT

cy@fedicy.us.to — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:09:58 GMT

Or you could go with the prosecutor's much more reasonable claims. That he put child pornography on his phone and then carried it across the border so that when they demanded his passcode, he would give them the passcode to erase the child pornography. And they didn't need a warrant to demand it because he was like 6 inches on the other side of the border so it's OK.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:09:18 GMT

siguza@infosec.space — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:09:18 GMT

@zackwhittaker the "Untied States" omg I'm wheezing

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:02:42 GMT

cy@fedicy.us.to — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:02:42 GMT

Haha surely he simply had just purchased it and forgot about it in the closet on factory settings for the past 6 years perfectly sensible explanation.

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:20:54 GMT

worldtravelerall7@mastodon.world — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:20:54 GMT

@zackwhittaker

this is excellent. good for grapheneOS

i had an idea where a person could select a finger, which if used to open the phone, would lock it down or delete the contents

my thought was to use the middle finger so you could flip off the cops while wiping the phone

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:19:03 GMT

burnoutqueen@todon.nl — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:19:03 GMT

@frequencyfault @zackwhittaker

I want data privacy, not because I'm a criminal, but because I am ruled by criminals

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:48:51 GMT

frequencyfault@mastodon.social — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:48:51 GMT

@zackwhittaker I use GrapheneOS, will continue using GrapheneOS for this reason, and once the data has been wiped detaining me indefinitely or charging me with obstruction or being a threat to national security won't ever bring it back.

In the future maybe they'll be able to recover the data or hack Graphene, but currently, their best countertech can't, and I'm cool with that. Call me a criminal. Lol

Reply to New, by me: The Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border agents with a "duress" passcode that wiped the contents of his phone when they entered it. on Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:08:25 GMT

zackwhittaker@mastodon.social — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:08:25 GMT

The person's attorney said feds are using a rarely used federal statute, and security experts said they hadn't heard of similar cases. This raises fresh questions about constitutional rights and device searches at the U.S. border.

Also: the DOJ's indictment had a notable typo. Read on for more.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/us-accuses-american-of-allegedly-wiping-his-phone-using-a-duress-password-during-border-search