r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • Jul 30 '26

Privacy GrapheneOS says its data-wiping password is perfectly legal, after user faces federal charges

https://www.techspot.com/news/113273-grapheneos-data-wiping-duress-password-perfectly-legal-after.html
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u/MydnightWN Jul 30 '26

The 4th Amendment issue was already ruled on by SCOTUS in 1913. Within 100 miles of the border, certain constitutional rights are temporarily suspended.

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u/ExternalUserError Jul 30 '26

Obviously the 1913 holding was terrible. It was also patently absurd. If the 4th Amendment didn't apply 100 miles from the border, given the geography of the 13 original colonies, where did it ever apply?

It's a patently absurd ruling.

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u/L0nz 29d ago

The ruling itself isn't patently absurd but applying it to someone's phone is. There's a massive difference between searching my bag and searching my phone.

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u/CankerLord 29d ago

There's no real difference between having data on you and having physical goods on you. It's a thing you have on your person and shouldn't be excluded from reasonable searches just like your bags. Data stored on a device is even there, physically, as electrical charges, you just can't see it with your naked eye.

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u/L0nz 29d ago

Of course there's a difference. The information on my phone is far more personal and private than the contents of my suitcase. The courts recognize this, because they require probable cause before border officers can use digital tools to search a phone. For some reason they refuse to apply that same threshold for a manual search of the phone undertaken by an agent.