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US prosecutors charge Atlanta man after GrapheneOS phone wipes itself during airport search (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 18 hours ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
36 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1289238/us-prosecutors-charge-atlanta-man-after-grapheneos-phone-wipes-itself-during-airport-sea

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[–] 22 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I just read the article and the whole thing is fucking crazy

Tunick asked four times during the interrogation to speak with a lawyer, but was rebuffed each time, according to courtroom testimony. Additionally, the agents produced no warrant and did not read Tunick his rights.

What are the dumbasses gonna do? Sorry man we're gonna arrest you on charges for phone restart. The fuck?

Besides the accusations of pedophilia? Are these people actually mental?

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    • [–] 11 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

    Mental note: When traveling internationally, back up phone to cloud somewhere and wipe it prior to traveling. Step two, restore from cloud after exiting airport.

    Hell, I don't even have anything remotely questionable on my phone other than some Trump mocking memes, but there is absolutely no reason to chance it.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 hours ago

    Step 1.5. Log into some email service that you only use for the purpose of travel (ie: forward your hotel reservation etc). Put some of your travel photos back on your phone.

    That way it looks like you actually used the phone and didn’t wipe it before crossing.

    Less sus.

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    • [–] 15 points 9 hours ago

    Something makes me think the officers intended to "find" CSAM on his phone. Like sprinkling crack, or a planter gun.

    Absolutely the right move to nuke it.

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    [–] 54 points 12 hours ago (1 child)

    Tunick asked four times during the interrogation to speak with a lawyer, but was rebuffed each time, according to courtroom testimony. Additionally, the agents produced no warrant and did not read Tunick his rights.

    If he’s not even accused of a crime, how is wiping his phone “destroying evidence”? What is the crime being committed here? You are allowed to wipe your own phone, and technically he didn’t even do that.

    Furthermore, asking a suspect for their passcode is bargain basement police work. Being surprised when this doesn’t work seems pretty incompetent. I think they’re throwing the book at him because they fucked up.

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  • [–] 44 points 12 hours ago* (1 child)

    No, they're throwing the book at him to make a statement.

    Their argument, which is stated in the article, is that since he was not in the US (you are not considered in the U.S. until you go through border protection, even if physically here), US rights and protections don't apply.

    Similarly, this isn't destruction of evidence they are charged for. It is destruction of property to prevent seizure. Which is a bit awkward because that's a law in the US, but he isn't in the US yet....?

    Of course, it's all bullshit. We all know this, but this is going to set a very dangerous precedent if it sticks.

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  • [–] 16 points 9 hours ago

    The argument is that the US government doesn’t have to follow US laws when interacting with US citizens outside of the US?

    That’s especially dubious when “outside the US” is referring to a legally flimsy distinction like the international terminal of an airport which is on US soil and controlled exclusively by the US government.

    There’s no way this isn’t going to be abused if allowed by courts.

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    • [–] 7 points 8 hours ago

    This is going to get dropped because I'm betting the last thing they want is for lawyers to dig in to the reason for the search.

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    [–] 14 points 10 hours ago (1 child)

    Land of the free

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    • [–] 122 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

    Interesting to see how this goes.

    • he didn't wipe it, the CBP officer did
    • what evidence? Phones empty.
    • um repeatedly denied a lawyer? Toss the case.
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    • [–] 86 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

    A duress PIN should load a normal looking phone so the dumb cops think you complied. Hide the wipe behind texts from your mom and emails from work.

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  • [–] 93 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

    @GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social everyone seems to be clamouring for the same thing: add "duress profile" to the roadmap. Keep up the good work.

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  • [–] 49 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

    Hell, an OS that gave me separate profiles for different pins could be useful for a bunch of things.

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  • [–] 11 points 16 hours ago

    gOS already has separate profiles with different passwords, how about setup a profile with a few pictures of gaping anuses to match the energy of nosy warrantless searching federals and install a couple apps with some activity I'm guessing is going to be better than an obvious wipe, even though a wipe is legal as it's your property and not evidence of a crime to destroy your own stuff.

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  • [–] 21 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

    @modem_down @beep @Semi_Hemi_Demigod It would be trivially detected by widely distributed standard forensic software including the non-Premium variant of Cellebrite able to run on a laptop.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 hours ago

    @GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social

    It would be trivially detected by widely distributed standard forensic software including the non-Premium variant of Cellebrite able to run on a laptop.

    By "duress profile", I mean that if user has enabled a "duress profile" feature in Settings, then entering the duress PIN would:

    1. Erase (the encryption key for) all profiles and storage outside the duress profile; then
    2. Unlock the duress profile.

    So, how would forensic software detect that the unlocked profile is a duress profile?

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  • [–] 35 points 15 hours ago (1 child)

    The point isn't to make it forensically undetectable, but to prevent the room temperature IQ cop from noticing what happened. If they "unlock" the phone and don't see anything that looks out of the ordinary they won't make a big deal out of it and there's a chance they'll let you go.

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  • [–] 8 points 12 hours ago*

    The room temperature IQ cop is going to plug the phone into a system that will do that forensic detection. Using commercial or special software.

    Room temperature IQ cop knows how to plug the cord into the phone and the cord into the laptop.

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  • [–] -5 points 16 hours ago (1 child)

    Lol I wouldn't hold your breath, these devs won't even give you inverted navbar buttons so unless it's something they themselves want, you won't see it.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 hours ago (1 child)

    wait there's really no inverted navbar in grapheneos?

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  • [–] 0 points 2 hours ago*

    Nope, and in the support threads the devs were all "Tough, we don't want it, use gestures".

    Inverted navbar and long press back button to force close an app are essential for me. Meanwhile diva devs are a massive turn off.

    Love some of what they've done, hate their attitude. Bit like the lemmy devs, except the GOS devs won't allow anyone to fork or incorporate their stuff.

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  • [–] 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

    But what about the spam emails your wife accidentally signed you up for ????

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  • [–] 2 points 12 hours ago

    accidentally

    Reading this comment with the assumption my wife will find it some day: Right, she doesn’t give out my number instead of hers as a contact point every time she visits a shop that asks, and certainly not because she has it memorised and it’s too much of a bother to give out her own, not at all.

    All the WhatsApp group invitations for clothing and grocery places that happen after she goes shopping are completely unrelated.

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    • [–] 42 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

    How does this work:

    He’s not yet granted access to the US, so laws don’t apply to him.

    He destroyed evidence, so laws do apply to him.

    How can both of these statements exist at the same time? Why not just turn him away?

    Even if they turned him away, he could get back in line with his clean phone and give them a working password.

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  • [–] 30 points 17 hours ago

    I can't believe he has to wait until October for a determination on this. The facts of the case are clear. If nothing else I hope he sues the police department that put him on a watchlist for terrorism.

    If he wins this case that would be my first move. The only reason he was harassed like this was because he voiced a negative opinion about a city project.

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    • [–] 1 point 8 hours ago

    Using local duress keys protects true personalIP.

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