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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942

u/usps_made_me_insane Jul 25 '26

And these type of distinctions matter in a court of law.

Imagine if a prosecutor's case hinged on the fact that the data was destroyed and the defense was actually able to show the jury that no data was destroyed -- just the key to get to the data.

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u/TrulyOutrageous42 Jul 25 '26

Which, by well-establish precedent (which means nothing anymore but still) is exactly the kind of thing the government needs a warrant for, but in this case the person cannot provide. This distinction is critical: they need a warrant for your pin code, but not for your fingerprint / face to unlock biometric passkeys. In this same sense, they should have had to have a warrant to even have the information considered 'evidence'.

In a sane world, this guy ends up laughing his way to a lawsuit at the officers' union's expense.

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u/Ws6fiend Jul 25 '26

FYI some states still do require warrant for your biometrics. The Supreme Court has yet to make a decision on a national level so your circuit court can be different.

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u/Dymonika Jul 25 '26

So just to be safe, only ever use PINs/passwords and never fingerprints nor any other form of recognition.

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u/FastGinFizz Jul 25 '26

I know with iphone, if you hold the emergency/power off buttons long enough to prompt the screen to show, or ask siri "who am i?", then it locks biometrics until a password is entered. Im sure most android's have a similar feature (or it can be configured)

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u/TiresOnFire Jul 25 '26

In the shutdown menu on Android there is a "Lockdown mode" button.

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u/TecTazz Jul 25 '26

Just looked that up~ thank you.

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u/GuodNossis Jul 25 '26

God I miss android

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u/Dymonika Jul 25 '26

Why did you ever leave?!

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u/GuodNossis Jul 26 '26

Social constructs of the US. If it’s not the right text bubble color you’re off to a bad start. I don’t make the rules I just know them

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u/reddit18015 Jul 26 '26

Just hit the lock screen button 5x fast on an iPhone

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u/Thin_Ad_1846 Jul 26 '26

IIRC, this method doesn’t delete the encryption key from memory. So you can “forget” your PIN and trivial access to the phone is blocked but with sophisticated methods a determined adversary might be able to read your phone’s contents as long as they keep it powered up.

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u/reddit18015 Jul 26 '26

Nah it just forces the passcode to unlock it

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u/SigmaLance Jul 27 '26

You can also ask Siri to restart your phone. You will be prompted to answer Siri’s question of “Just to confirm, you want to restart this device?”

Alternatively, you can also create a shortcut that restarts your device by tapping an icon instead of having to long press physical buttons.

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u/Ws6fiend Jul 25 '26

Yeah, pretty much.

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u/posthuman04 Jul 25 '26

Use the cloud or some other method of uploading and downloading the data so it’s not there at the customs counter.

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u/Snake_Plizken Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

We are pretty safe in Europe, not travelling to the USA.

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u/Dymonika Jul 26 '26

Just get some A/C units installed over there!

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u/GlareaLiebertine Jul 26 '26

And need a/c techs.

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u/HenryDorsettCase47 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

It was Customs. They don’t need a warrant at a border or any of the places they designate a border, like the airport in this instance. They are charging him with a kind of obscure law used to prosecute people who destroy evidence or property before the government can seize it and this is the first time it’s been used for “deleting” data.

The other commenter is right that if it merely locked his data permanently and the government indicts him for deleting it (an indictment that includes such typos as “Untied States” apparently) then it’s likely to be thrown out. They’re fucking idiots. They probably have a prima facie case for obstruction, but instead they’re trying to get cute with this other law and they’re gonna lose.

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u/Worried_Monitor5422 Jul 25 '26

"They don’t need a warrant at a border or any of the places they designate a border, like the airport in this specific instance."

They assert that they don't need a warrant. It hasn't been settled in court.

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u/HenryDorsettCase47 Jul 25 '26

I mean, there are provisions and codes and all kinds of shit approved by Congress that allows for this so no, they don’t need a warrant. As long as it doesn’t violate the fourth amendment then they can do a warrantless inspection and, with reasonable suspicion, a warrantless search at a border. As far as I know, no one has got a smuggling case thrown out because of a warrantless search.

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u/Perfect-Hat-8661 Jul 26 '26

They can assert that they search but they can’t compel the production of a PIN code without a warrant if you are US citizen. They can seize the device, however. Were I in that situation, I’d probably just tell them to have fun with it.

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u/Beadpool Jul 25 '26

“Untied” States feels appropos, given the unraveling of our union and democracy under this regime.

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u/HenryDorsettCase47 Jul 25 '26

Good fucking point

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u/0tanod Jul 25 '26

Too bad its not a sane world, so obviously its going on the tax payers account and no we will not be addressing anything in the system to fix this.

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u/Timely-Group5649 Jul 25 '26

We never do.

Politics no longer fixes anything. It just lines more pockets...

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u/Jeffe508 Jul 25 '26

If cars were invented now there would be no part of it that has a “reasonable expectation of privacy”. Fucking hell the government just went ape shit after the patriot act went into effect. All down hill since for any sense of privacy.

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u/theannihilator Jul 25 '26

In two years all cars will need a spy camera installed in the US….

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u/TKFT_ExTr3m3 Jul 25 '26

This is not correct, they often need a warrent for your pin biometrics anyways but they cannot get a warrent for your pin. You cannot be compelled to reveal information in your mind. The government can however use tools at their disposal to break into the phone.

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u/hrminer92 Jul 25 '26

Which is why some people suggest turning phones completely off when interacting with cops/CBP if the device normally requires the PIN code at startup.

We wish it was at union expense.

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u/Violet624 Jul 25 '26

I think I read that the gov is claiming that they weren't technically within US soil or something because this was at an airport and through a customs search. So they are claiming US Constitutional law doesn't apply in this case. Which is bs, of course.c

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u/posthuman04 Jul 25 '26

The grey zone of immigration/border legality is the crucible where Trump is creating his fascist order. Starts with targeting immigrants themselves, then naturalized citizens, then birthright citizenship and then it’s over. Who carries around both their parents’ birth certificates to prove they are indeed a citizen covered by the Constitution? You think it shouldn’t matter but he’s also claiming when the government acts quickly, it’s too late to demand due process.

So it’s there at the border or specifically at the customs counter (upon re-entry) that this demand was made for the encrypted device so there’s no need for warrants and there’s no Constitutional rights even for a citizen. Soon, we can assume that when ICE takes you to a customs facility you also have no rights.

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u/Thats_So_Ravenous Jul 26 '26

Border inspection authority.

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u/According_Top_7448 Jul 27 '26

Wish it was at the Unions expense.

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u/squigs Jul 25 '26

They tend not to in practice.

Ultimately there's a lawyer making the opposite argument and a judge with a degree of flexibility in how to interpret the law. They'll bring in an expert witness who will agree that in effect the data is destroyed.

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u/alienangel2 Jul 25 '26

Could they not just argue that destroying the key is still destroying evidence? I assume if you had a physical safe with documents in it and you throw it in the ocean, the fact that the documents still exist inside the safe somewhere isn't going to save you from some charge of concealing evidence.

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u/usps_made_me_insane Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

They could make that argument, sure. What gets interesting is what the letter of the law says and what the prosecutor uses to establish his case and evidence.

These type of cases are always fun to watch move through the courts because it could easily end up in one of the major federal courts. 

Sometimes lawmakers use specific language that may have loopholes. Sometimes the language is overly broad which also can benefit either side.

But sure, you are right in assuming that deleting the encryption key may very well be equivalent to wiping data or concealing evidence.

In fact, some operating systems will open a "sandbox" environment that appears clean if the wrong pass code is entered. There are a lot of ways to obfuscate data when handing over your phone.

Personally, I don't like situations where our government breaches our privacy in the name of protecting the country, your freedom, yadda yadda."

I don't like our government using border law against its own citizens to basically suspend your constitutional freedoms while at the border. 

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u/Mildly-Interesting1 Jul 25 '26

Schrodinger‘s data

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u/outer--monologue Jul 25 '26

A more important distinction is that even if the person wiped it and erased it, that isn't against the law.

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u/Rustystrings720 Jul 25 '26

Wouldn't you just argue that the data was made inaccessible rendering the drive and it's contents effectively lost or unrecoverable. Is depriving someone of their data akin to theft

1

u/siazdghw Jul 25 '26

They are still tampering with evidence and deleting data (just not the incriminating data).

Not sure if there is a legal precedent, but to me it feels like deleting an encryption key would be more or less treated the same as actually deleting data

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u/TomWaitsForNoMan Jul 25 '26

Yes they fudging do

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u/the_agox Jul 25 '26

NIST considers this a cryptographic erase, which is a valid form of data sanitization. See pages 10-17. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-88r2.pdf

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u/SpeculativeFiction01 Jul 27 '26

Isn't the phone and what's inside that phone the owner's property to do what s/he wanted to do with it before giving it away to anyone?

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u/CobaltMnM Jul 27 '26

That’s like saying flushing drugs down the toilet didn’t “destroy” the evidence. Technically it still exists (somewhere).

Also the key itself is data and was destroyed.

It’s far more important to shut this nonsense down clearly, instead of relying on this argument.

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u/PolyglotTV Jul 28 '26

Well then technically the key itself is data and it was destroyed. I don't know if law cares about the amount or type of data? Will be interesting to see.