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Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

nytimes.com

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Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#21

Post by 34679 »

Amendment 4:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Amendment 5:

"..nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#22

Post by spacebanana7 »

floathub wrote: post #2

According to the article, he was actually using GrapheneOS and gave the border official the Duress PIN. So I guess technically it was the official that erased the data :-)

I wonder whether it'd be better for a duress PIN to delete existing data and also create a semi plausible artificial profile to hide the deletion event.

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#23

Post by stymaar »

hamper653 wrote: post #10
hoppyhoppy2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says he was charged with obstruction. You can try this "gift link" to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/us/politics/samuel-tunick...

Obstruction to what though?

Illegitimate abuse of border control power to restrict freedom of speech.

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#24

Post by gruez »

hamper653 wrote: post #6
gruez wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There is a difference between exploding a bomb and deleting your data. One is a crime.

>There is a difference between exploding a bomb

Mines (in wars, as implied by "solider") aren't illegal. Also even for the first example there are certainly improvised explosives you can set up that isn't criminal to create or set off, fireworks for instance. Same with a barrel of gasoline. It's certainly a crime to use it to kill someone, but that's my point. By OP's logic it's not the person who set it up's fault, it's the person who triggered it.

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#25

Post by skinfaxi »

Sharlin wrote: post #14
jmclnx wrote: post #12

Yet another case that will waste the court's time and money. All this is doing is keeping defense lawyers pocket's lined. At this point, people should buy a burner phone when going to/from the US. In that phone only have a couple of phone numbers and that's it.

Oh, they may well give you bad time if your phone looks like a burner with too little content.

If you are a citizen like this person is then you can tell them to fuck off, they can keep the phone, and they have to let you in.

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#26

Post by iamnothere »

Sharlin wrote: post #14
jmclnx wrote: post #12

Yet another case that will waste the court's time and money. All this is doing is keeping defense lawyers pocket's lined. At this point, people should buy a burner phone when going to/from the US. In that phone only have a couple of phone numbers and that's it.

Oh, they may well give you bad time if your phone looks like a burner with too little content.

If you are a citizen it doesn’t matter. They have to let you in.

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#27

Post by bdangubic »

LoganDark wrote: post #19
hamper653 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a difference between exploding a bomb and deleting your data. One is a crime.

Deleting your data is absolutely a crime when you know the authorities could've wanted whatever it was you deleted -- even if they haven't told you yet. It stands to reason that providing a duress PIN that deletes your data when entered would be a crime as well, if said data is of interest. Not to say that I personally agree with either of those cases. But what is considered crime can get pretty unfair when it comes…

Can you provide a statute number for this crime please? Any federal or even state statute will do

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#28

Post by mc32 »

hamper653 wrote: post #6
gruez wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There is a difference between exploding a bomb and deleting your data. One is a crime.

Intentional destruction of evidence is also a crime. Now, whether this applies to this scenario I suppose will have to be determined by the courts.

Destroying potential evidence before suspicion is not a crime. Destroying it once under suspicion is a crime. So anyone can destroy their data at their hotel room even just before entry even if the data contains evidence of crimes. Of course the courts could take that into evidence to support the argument that there were crimes but it would not be a crime in and of itself.

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#29

Post by ramgine »

jmclnx wrote: post #12

Yet another case that will waste the court's time and money. All this is doing is keeping defense lawyers pocket's lined. At this point, people should buy a burner phone when going to/from the US. In that phone only have a couple of phone numbers and that's it.

Think it’s better to travel without a phone at all and buy one when arriving in the us? Problematic I guess with everything being digital

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#30

Post by gruez »

34679 wrote: post #21

Amendment 4: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Amendment 5: "..nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witn…

>Amendment 4:

He was charged for destroying evidence, not refusing a search

>Amendment 5:

Destroying evidence isn't testimony. Moreover he would have been in the clear if he just kept his mouth shut.

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