Overview
- Federal prosecutors indicted Atlanta activist Samuel Tunick under 18 U.S.C. § 2232 after agents say he entered a GrapheneOS duress PIN during a secondary border inspection that erased his Pixel phone; he has pleaded not guilty and faces up to five years in prison.
- GrapheneOS and its founder publicly said on July 27 that the operating system and its duress‑wipe feature are legal, that wiped key material cannot be recovered, and that the project will not weaken its protections.
- Tunick’s lawyer has filed a motion to suppress evidence, arguing agents did not obtain a warrant, failed to honor his requests for a lawyer, and did not read Miranda warnings during the January 2025 inspection.
- Customs and Border Protection says device inspections are lawful and decided case‑by‑case, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office has declined to comment and prosecutors are using a rarely applied destruction statute.
- Legal experts and privacy advocates warn the outcome could set precedent that affects device security design, how activists and journalists protect data, and the scope of border‑search authority.