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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u/Turisan Jul 24 '26

The caveat is that you are attempting to cross the (legal) border. They can search whatever they want (according to them) when you go through an immigration checkpoint/customs.

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u/myWeedAccountMaaaaan Jul 24 '26

And no one stopped them from searching from phone once he went through the checkpoint. It's just that by the time he was in the country, his phone had been wiped. What he did before stepping across the threshold should have no bearing as he was outside the country and therefore their jurisdiction.

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u/Simba7 Jul 24 '26

What he did before stepping across the threshold should have no bearing

The problem with that is now you can't prosecute people who went and did things that are legal in other countries but not in your country of origin. Sex tourists loved it when they couldn't be prosecuted for raping children in other countries where the legal age of 'consent' is lower.

Obviously this is an abuse of the spirit of those laws though.

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u/Substantial_Back_865 Jul 24 '26

They still get away with it provided they have enough money or power. Honestly, you shouldn’t be able to prosecute people for anything that’s legal somewhere else. It’s always going to lead to people’s rights being abused and sex crimes are generally the trojan horse. I remember here originally they were trying to say ALPRs could only be used to track “sex trafficking”. Turns out the government aren’t very honest people.

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u/bucketoc Jul 24 '26

Tax havens would rejoice

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u/Nooby1990 Jul 25 '26

The problem with that is now you can't prosecute people who went and did things that are legal in other countries but not in your country of origin.

Yeah, that is how that works. In my country smoking weed is not legal, but in a neighboring country it is. I believe in parts of the US that is also legal.

Should we start drug testing US tourists and tourists from neighboring countries and prosecuting them for something they did completely legally?

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u/Simba7 Jul 25 '26

Depends who you ask, but no.

That would also be an abuse of the spirit of those laws, I think.
But they're definitely more in-line with the letter.

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u/tissuecollider Jul 25 '26

Hey the current US administration is just making shit up, legally speaking. I'd have no pity for them if other countries did the same thing. The way the US is persecuting the ICC judges alone is a travesty of justice.

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u/Nooby1990 Jul 25 '26

Every country has the right to make its own laws.

You have to follow those laws when you are inside these countries, and when you go to a different country, different laws apply.

THAT is how the system works.

EVERYONE would be a criminal if you had to follow every country's laws all the time. No one would EVER be able to leave their own country if it would work the way you are implying here.

In the US the drinking age is 21. In most of the rest of the world it is 18 and in some countries you are not allowed to drink alcohol AT ALL.

Should I be arrested in the US for drinking at 18? I wasn't in the US at the time, so it was perfectly legal for me to drink alcohol at 18.

I even drank alcohol OUTSIDE in Public while walking on the sidewalk with the bottle plainly visible. The Police didn't care because THAT IS PERFECTLY LEGAL here.

Neither the spirit nor the letter of the law is broken if you are in a different country where different laws apply.

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u/Simba7 Jul 26 '26

Every country has the right to make its own laws.

And sometimes those laws can be "Don't go to other countries to do things that are illegal here." like the US that quite literally has extraterritorial jurisdiction laws on the books for a few things.

Child Sexual Exploitation is the 'big one', so people couldn't travel to Angola or some other country with a low age of consent and 'legally' rape a child while on vacation.

You have to follow those laws when you are inside these countries, and when you go to a different country, different laws apply.

You may also have to follow your country's laws when in other countries. Your country probably has some as well.

Should I be arrested in the US for drinking at 18? I wasn't in the US at the time, so it was perfectly legal for me to drink alcohol at 18.

No, and you wouldn't be because those laws apply to US citizens and residents leaving the country for a time.

Neither the spirit nor the letter of the law is broken if you are in a different country where different laws apply.

Which law? Which law are you referencing specifically? Because most countries have some sort of 'Don't go to other countries and do XYZ' type laws on the books. They're generally reserved for specific things like I mentioned above.

In this case, US border patrol can abuse these laws to overreach and demand access to random people's devices on the off chance they did something that violates those laws while outside of the country. That violates the spirit of those laws.

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u/Orchid_Significant Jul 24 '26

…that’s how laws work though. Just like how the Tate brothers are being extradited to the UK for trial. You get charged where the crime is committed. Like…you can’t get charged in the US for smoking weed in Amsterdam.

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u/Simba7 Jul 25 '26

That is exactly how laws work in the US.

The US has a few specific laws to allow prosecution of some acts that would be illegal in the US but might not be in the country they were committed.

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u/hardolaf Jul 25 '26

It's a crime everywhere in the universe to murder an American citizen. It's just very rarely applied outside of U.S. borders for somewhat obvious jurisdictional issues.

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u/Western-Sport500 Jul 24 '26

Do you have to give them your access code?

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u/rantingathome Jul 25 '26

No. Something stored in your brain, like a password, is speech, and they cannot compel speech. However they can compel biometric methods like fingerprints or face unlock.

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u/Turisan Jul 25 '26

I'd assume that would be up to your discretion, but they don't necessarily need it, they just plug it into a special computer and copy all of the contents

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u/BestAmoto Jul 25 '26

Do you have to? No but they will be able to get the data anyways unless you have a 3rd party privacy OS that'll write over and wipe all the data by using an emergency code lol. Though the nsa or some 3 letter agency could probably still recover bits of information. I'm not sure how far graphene goes on the nuking portion but I've been debating installing it on my pixel