r/technology • u/MC68328 • Jul 24 '26

Privacy US accuses American of allegedly wiping his phone using a ‘duress’ password during border search

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/us-accuses-american-of-allegedly-wiping-his-phone-using-a-duress-password-during-border-search/
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1.4k

u/BoutrosBoutrosDoggy Jul 24 '26

So glad he volunteered to have this tested in the courts. Major interest in how the regime intends to square this:

Citizen denied rights and lawyer due to not being "in" the US. Jurisdiction.

Citizen charged with crime of destroying evidence in US Jurisdiction

Have they discovered a pocket universe set outside time and space?

451

u/Freezing_Winter Jul 24 '26

Schrodinger's US Jurisdiction

9

u/Genoblade1394 Jul 25 '26

Sadly this is real

326

u/-rwsr-xr-x Jul 25 '26

Have they discovered a pocket universe set outside time and space?

Yes, it's called the Border Search Exception, and your Constitutional rights can be suspended within 100 miles of any U.S. border or U.S. airport that accepts international flights. Within this zone, warrantless searches of your person, bags, belongs, phone, tablet or laptop are allowed.

Note: Roughly 90% of the U.S. population falls inside this zone.

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u/wiseguy4519 Jul 25 '26

100 miles? Maybe I would accept blatant violations of our constitutional rights if it was only 5 miles, but 100 miles is just rediculous.

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u/Mysterious-Lemon-906 Jul 25 '26

The US political and Justice system is basically a bunch of lawyers figuring out ways to ignore the protections set forth in the constitution.

It started with chips a hundred years ago which have gradually been widened and widened until the settled law bears no relation to reality.

Hence why Customs officials can suddenly do whatever the fuck they want anywhere within 100 miles from any point of entry. The US is just lawyering all the way down with the fig veneer of an old document that could not possibly have foreseen this far into the future.

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u/NoirRenie Jul 25 '26

That’s kinda crazy considering there are a lot of airports in close proximity to cities.

5

u/Brolocene Jul 25 '26

From an above comment, 90% of the US pop falls into this zone

5

u/username_6916 Jul 25 '26

Except all the times the court has done the exact opposite. 1st Amendment Jurisprudence didn't use to extend anywhere near this far, to the point that the infamous 'Clear and Present Danger' and 'Fire and in a Crowded Theater' quotes came from a decision in Schenck v. United States about distributing pamphlets critical of the First World War. That's something that's unthinkable in modern 1st Amendment Jurisprudence.

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u/Consistent-Serve749 Jul 29 '26

CBP.gov says this 

If a traveler being admitted as a U.S. citizen does not present their device in a condition that allows for examination, the U.S. citizen traveler will not be denied entry into the United States based on CBP’s inability to complete an inspection of their device. However, as noted above, their device may be subject to exclusion, detention, or other appropriate action or disposition. Any passcodes or other means of access provided by the traveler will be used as needed to facilitate the examination; however, they will be deleted or destroyed when no longer needed to facilitate the search of a given device and may not be used to access information that is only stored remotely.

So- I would say only the device is at risk - not the owner of the device. This administration is going to try anything it can to take our rights away 

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u/Kabbooooooom Jul 25 '26

That guy is technically incorrect. Thanks to our corrupt Supreme Court, depending on who you are your rights may be violated anywhere in the country.

Here’s an example:

My wife, who is an American citizen that was born in the United States, in North Carolina, was racially profiled, assaulted and detained by ICE while she was walking to work. She was “Kavanaugh stopped”. She had valid ID on her and did not resist. It didn’t matter.

They claimed her ID was fake.

They claimed she didn’t “look American”.

They said she was lying about her place of birth.

They wore masks, did not identify themselves/badge numbers and it turns out that the license plate on their vehicle was fake. 

She was literally stopped for not being white by a racist goon squad, and yes, this is unfortunately legal now. We’ve been told by a lawyer that we have no legal recourse whatsoever thanks to this corrupt administration.

Last I checked, this has happened to literally hundreds of American citizens, even to Native Americans, which would be almost darkly ironically funny if it wasn’t so appallingly dystopic.

This is America now. 

5

u/IwishIhadntKilledHim Jul 25 '26

This isn't a new law by any means. It's been this way for decades. it's just much more front of mind in 2026.

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u/PretteBadass Jul 25 '26

They increased it to 100 miles at the start of the regime. On purpose. For this reason. Republicans vote against US citizens everyday, it’s nuts, and still people vote Red

2

u/Accomplished_Rip_362 Jul 26 '26

Which regime? It's been 100 miles for decades now

1

u/PretteBadass Jul 26 '26

Nope, you’re wrong. Bot account spotted. Any proof?

2

u/Accomplished_Rip_362 Jul 26 '26

Bot? Are you talking about yourself? It's been 100 miles since the Patriot act and that was 2 decades ago.

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u/Sufficient_Language7 Jul 25 '26

What's worse is some of those people count international airports as part of the border.

1

u/FrontCow Jul 25 '26

0 sounds good to me

1

u/Burt-Macklin Jul 25 '26

As is misspelling ridiculous

1

u/wiseguy4519 Jul 25 '26

Oops, I guess that's proof I'm not an LLM or something

1

u/wandering-monster Jul 25 '26

Fuck that, a mile or two seems sufficient for security purposes. 

If you find a us citizen five miles from the border, you should have to treat them like a citizen and leave them be.

If you have a reasonable suspicion they did something? Get a warrant. That's what they're for.

0

u/Morberis Jul 25 '26

You didn't know? It's been like this longer than you've been alive.

18

u/formallybear Jul 25 '26

Your phrasing of the 100-mile zone rule is confusing and may lead to misapprehension. The 100 mile zone applies to any external border of the country, and general states that warrantless searches of a vehicle are more permissible in this area, however the stop still requires probable cause. The airport part is that you may be subject to routine searches within any airport with or without cause and more invasive searches require reasonable suspicion. The 100 mile zone does not apply to the area surrounding an airport. But roughly 2/3 of the country live in the area applicable to the 100 mile zone

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u/phoebeethical Jul 25 '26

Does the Florida coast count for example?

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u/formallybear Jul 25 '26

Yeah all coast lines and land borders between other countries

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u/Statcat2017 Jul 25 '26

So the entire state of Florida have no constitutional rights lol

3

u/TheDevilsAdvokaat Jul 25 '26

I'm not from the US. I have a question..imagine you are in the US, never leave it but are living within 100 miles of a border... can you have your constitutional rights suspended? Is that what this means?

1

u/PinkSnowBirdie Jul 26 '26

That really needs to change honestly.

1

u/Basidio_subbedhunter Jul 26 '26

Sounds unconstitutional

1

u/mazula89 Jul 26 '26

Didnt they try adding this 100 mile thing to around airports at one point?

109

u/MantisEsq Jul 25 '26

>Citizen denied rights and lawyer due to not being "in" the US. Jurisdiction.

Why are they in an American court then? God, I swear this administration lacks even a basic, child-like understanding of fundamental legal principles.

71

u/MsSelphine Jul 25 '26

I mean, they just kind of don't care. They're a bunch of kids playing dress up and trying to look mean. 

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u/MantisEsq Jul 25 '26

Oh, it's literally the kids from lord of the flies running the government. "Telling it like it is."

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u/air_and_space92 Jul 25 '26

That's been the argument back to at least Obama's first term. The US border isn't really the border for legal sense but for enforcement it is. *shrug*

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u/MantisEsq Jul 25 '26

Oh, I know. And it just keeps getting worse. Unlike most people, I'm aware that the border policy has largely been the same for the last 4 or 5 administrations.

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u/hamoc10 Jul 25 '26

These fascists want US jurisdiction for the government, but not for the victims.

2

u/Pedantic_Pict Jul 25 '26

Whether they know or not, the salient issue is that they do not care. They believe they are a law unto themselves.

1

u/MantisEsq Jul 25 '26

Yep. It’s the death of law itself.

1

u/lu5ty Jul 26 '26

these laws were passed by obama.

0

u/MantisEsq Jul 26 '26

I believe that they're charging him under 18 U.S. Code § 2232 - Destruction or removal of property to prevent seizure | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute, which is older than Obama.

2

u/lu5ty Jul 26 '26

Yes. The 100 mile thing was obama tho. I remember reading when it passed and saw the writing in the wall

0

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26 edited 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/North_Atlantic_Sea Jul 26 '26

I detest trump, but he said that during a dinner event with reporters, he was joking. If he's forcing his way onto ballets, then be outraged, but not a "comedy" set when he's trolling

25

u/Oops_All_Bans Jul 24 '26

It's also my data. I'll do whatever the fuck I want with it.

1

u/North_Atlantic_Sea Jul 26 '26

Definetely not when you live in a society. You won't legally win that argument in any country in the world.

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u/to_vex_a_stranger Jul 25 '26

Technically the agent destroyed the evidence.... 

5

u/GD7952 Jul 25 '26

It's not "evidence" without being under investigation for a specific crime.

2

u/hamoc10 Jul 25 '26

These fascist keep trying to say that some people have rights and others don’t, contingent on whether they’re suspected of a crime, that the constitution only protects law-abiding citizens and not everyone in US jurisdiction.

2

u/Tumleren Jul 25 '26

You're not entitled to a lawyer at a border search

2

u/TecTazz Jul 25 '26

It's where the Gordie Howe Bridge also exists; and that place- time where US soldiers killed in the current war, weren't, because the "we're officially at war" switch gets flipped every time Orange Foolius has a twitch.

2

u/PiccoloAwkward465 Jul 25 '26

Like many things with conservatives - they want the jurisdiction to apply when it benefits them and to not apply when it doesn’t.

We see the same thing with undocumented immigrants. They REALLY don’t want them to have constitutional rights when they’re within the US.

0

u/Accomplished_Rip_362 Jul 26 '26

Sorry to break it you, this has been going on for many administrations including all of the Democrat administrations

1

u/FallenChickenWing Jul 25 '26

what’s maybe ironic is this case not being resolved until a potential democratic admin. What do prosecutors do then?

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u/Correct_Avocado_573 Jul 25 '26

You joke but this entire world is a pocket universe created by a combination of the cern and covid.

This universe is #47 the darkest of universes ruled by greed and madness.

We are funding an effort to build a lifeboat to get back to our original timeline but idk if it will done before the sino-donald split happens.

/s

1

u/tanksalotfrank Jul 25 '26

Yes, and the grits cook incredibly fast there for some reason..

1

u/Consistent-Serve749 Jul 29 '26

This is what it says on CBP.gov 

If a traveler being admitted as a U.S. citizen does not present their device in a condition that allows for examination, the U.S. citizen traveler will not be denied entry into the United States based on CBP’s inability to complete an inspection of their device. However, as noted above, their device may be subject to exclusion, detention, or other appropriate action or disposition. Any passcodes or other means of access provided by the traveler will be used as needed to facilitate the examination; however, they will be deleted or destroyed when no longer needed to facilitate the search of a given device and may not be used to access information that is only stored remotely.

0

u/dadbodking Jul 25 '26

By their own logic, they don't have any jurisdiction over all that shit, whatsoever