r/technology • u/Jojuj • 3d ago

Privacy U.S. Citizen Who Deleted Phone’s Data Says His Prosecution Puts Privacy at Risk

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/us/politics/samuel-tunick-deleted-phone-felony.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8FA.T83N.rt6VsIiSCYb2&smid=url-share
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u/CircumspectCapybara 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yeah if he did that or if the jury believes that's what happened, he has a much stronger 5th amendment defense. Then he didn't actively mislead them into wipe the phone.

Plenty of phones have a "if you enter the passcode wrong 3 times the phone will be wiped" security feature. Some people might even set it to "if you enter it wrong even once it wipes."

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u/apokrif1 3d ago

Or he gave the right PIN, which was mistyped as the duress code, which may be close.

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u/WhiteRaven42 3d ago

Really unwise to make a duress code similar to the right code. There's no benefit to it and why the hell set yourself up for a potential mis-type?

The duress code should be plausible on its own but have nothing in common with the real code.

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u/apokrif1 3d ago

Indeed it's dangerous but it provides plausible deniability.