--- title: Federal prosecutors charge man after GrapheneOS duress... description: US citizen Samuel Tunick faces federal charges after using GrapheneOS's duress password feature during a border search at Atlanta's airport, causing his phone... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/federal-prosecutors-charge-man-after-grapheneos-duress-password-wiped-his-phone-at-airport-border-se-hcrphvels twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Federal prosecutors charge man after GrapheneOS duress password wiped his phone at airport border search | daily.dev og:description: US citizen Samuel Tunick faces federal charges after using GrapheneOS's duress password feature during a border search at Atlanta's airport, causing his phone... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/federal-prosecutors-charge-man-after-grapheneos-duress-password-wiped-his-phone-at-airport-border-se-hcrphvels og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/HcRPhvElS.png og:image:alt: Federal prosecutors charge man after GrapheneOS duress password wiped his phone at airport border search og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Federal prosecutors charge man after GrapheneOS duress password wiped his phone at airport border search **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 3 min read · 2 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary US citizen Samuel Tunick faces federal charges after using GrapheneOS's duress password feature during a border search at Atlanta's airport, causing his phone to wipe itself. Prosecutors claim this constitutes criminal destruction of evidence — reportedly the first time such charges have been brought for triggering a built-in OS security feature. His defense argues the underlying border search was unlawful, meaning there was no legitimate seizure to obstruct. The case raises significant constitutional questions about Fourth Amendment rights at borders, the legality of warrantless device searches, and whether using privacy-focused software can be treated as evidence of criminal intent. Civil liberties groups including the EFF are closely watching the case. ## Content ## What happened Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta resident and U.S. citizen, is facing federal charges after a GrapheneOS security feature wiped his phone during a border search at Hartsfield-Jackson airport. When CBP agents asked for his passcode and he provided one, it triggered GrapheneOS's "duress" PIN feature — a separate code that, instead of unlocking the device, initiates a full wipe. Prosecutors charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 2232(a), destruction of property to prevent government seizure, which carries up to five years in prison. Security experts say they've never seen charges like this before. It appears to be the first federal prosecution specifically tied to a duress wipe feature. ## The GrapheneOS feature GrapheneOS, a privacy-focused Android fork, lets users set a secondary passcode that wipes the device instead of unlocking it. The idea is to give someone under coercion a way to destroy sensitive data without visibly resisting. The GrapheneOS maintainers have stated the feature itself is legal and protected under the U.S. Constitution — though they've since posted a forum note urging users to think carefully about the legal and physical consequences of using it at a border crossing. ## The defense's argument Tunick's attorneys are pushing back on multiple fronts. They argue the initial phone seizure was unlawful, that he was denied access to an attorney, and that the government had no adequate justification for the search in the first place. His lawyer has also suggested the search was politically motivated, pointing to Tunick's association with Defend the Atlanta Forest. ## The border search problem This case sits in genuinely murky legal territory. The government's longstanding position is that the border is effectively outside normal Fourth Amendment protections — that agents can search devices without a warrant when someone is entering the country. Courts have been inconsistent on where exactly the line is. What makes this case different is that prosecutors aren't just arguing they had the right to search the phone. They're arguing that triggering a security feature you set up in advance constitutes criminal destruction of evidence. That's a significant leap, and it's not obvious how courts will handle it. Written arguments are due through fall 2025, so this one is still playing out. ## What it means practically The EFF has guidance on protecting data at border crossings, and the general advice — traveling with a clean device, using full-disk encryption, knowing your rights — hasn't changed. But this case adds a new wrinkle: a feature designed specifically to protect you in a coercive situation may itself be treated as evidence of criminal intent. There's something genuinely uncomfortable about that framing. The government is essentially arguing that preparing for a worst-case scenario, and then that scenario happening, is a crime. Whether that argument holds up legally is one question. Whether it should is another. ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ksolomon** · 0 upvotes > The only safe way to cross the border with a device is, sadly, to have nothing of any consequence on it. You're entering a police state with a hostile regime in power, assume the worst. --- Tags: [#android](https://daily.dev/tags/android), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy), [#data-protection](https://daily.dev/tags/data-protection) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/federal-prosecutors-charge-man-after-grapheneos-duress-password-wiped-his-phone-at-airport-border-se-hcrphvels) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Federal prosecutors charge man after GrapheneOS duress password wiped his phone at airport border search","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/federal-prosecutors-charge-man-after-grapheneos-duress-password-wiped-his-phone-at-airport-border-se-hcrphvels","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/federal-prosecutors-charge-man-after-grapheneos-duress-password-wiped-his-phone-at-airport-border-se-hcrphvels"},"datePublished":"2026-07-27T00:41:01.864Z","dateModified":"2026-07-30T16:47:09.758Z","description":"US citizen Samuel Tunick faces federal charges after using GrapheneOS's duress password feature during a border search at Atlanta's airport, causing his phone...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b4aa7ec331c6197aa8701088990f1c42?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b4aa7ec331c6197aa8701088990f1c42?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":2,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/federal-prosecutors-charge-man-after-grapheneos-duress-password-wiped-his-phone-at-airport-border-se-hcrphvels","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}],"keywords":"android,privacy,data-protection","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Federal prosecutors charge man after GrapheneOS duress password wiped his phone at airport border search"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/federal-prosecutors-charge-man-after-grapheneos-duress-password-wiped-his-phone-at-airport-border-se-hcrphvels","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"The only safe way to cross the border with a device is, sadly, to have nothing of any consequence on it. You’re entering a police state with a hostile regime in power, assume the worst.","datePublished":"2026-07-27T14:18:22.231Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/HcRPhvElS#c-QhPuoKPA8","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Keith Solomon","url":"https://daily.dev/ksolomon","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/251996?v=4"}}]} ```