Activist wipes his GrapheneOS phone before US slave patrol can get access
With all the surveillance and spying taking place these days everywhere, and the fact that it’s only getting worse, if you’re not using a privacy phone these days, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage. Here’s one example where using a privacy phone prevented US slave patrol from breaking into a man’s phone. From “US Prosecutors Charge Activist After GrapheneOS Phone is Wiped During Airport Search” (July 28th 2026):
US prosecutors are charging Atlanta activist Samuel Tunick after his phone was wiped during a border search. The case has raised questions about phone privacy and government searches. Tunick returned to the United States from the Dominican Republic on January 24, 2025. Customs and Border Protection agents stopped him at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. According to The Verge, agents took Tunick for additional questioning. They asked him to provide access to his Google Pixel phone.
The phone used GrapheneOS, a privacy-focused version of Android. The software includes a feature that can erase the phone when someone enters a special password.
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PrivacySavvy’s extensive research concludes that Tunick used the phone’s duress password during the airport search. The feature does not unlock the phone like a normal password. Instead, it triggers an immediate and permanent data wipe.
GrapheneOS designed the option for situations where someone may face pressure to unlock their device. The feature gives users a way to protect private data if someone forces them to provide access.
Ars Technica reported that the phone’s data disappeared after an agent entered the password. Authorities still took the phone after the wipe. The government argues that Tunick used the feature to stop officials from taking the data on his phone. The case therefore focuses on whether using such a security feature can amount to illegal destruction of property.
Tunick’s lawyers have challenged the search and the events that led to the phone seizure. They argue that authorities did not follow proper legal steps during the questioning. According to The Verge, his lawyers say agents refused to let him speak with a lawyer. They also argue that agents did not show him a warrant. The defence further claims that authorities questioned Tunick about child sexual abuse material as a reason to access his phone.
His lawyers say the questioning was instead linked to his connections with Atlanta’s Stop Cop City protest movement.
And here’s from The Verge, “Is it illegal to trick the US government into wiping your phone during a questionably legal search?” (July 28th 2026):
Unlike others who have had their phones seized with no explanation, Tunick was told that CBP needed to search his device to determine whether it contained child sexual abuse material, according to court filings. But Tunick’s attorneys argue that the search “was a pretext for a fishing expedition” into his connections with the Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta, in which dozens of people were charged under state RICO laws, which were later dismissed. A few protesters are still facing domestic terrorism and arson cases.
According to a motion to suppress evidence filed in March, Tunick didn’t consent to a search and repeatedly asked to speak to his attorney, but CBP officers told him they didn’t need a warrant to search his phone. Tunick ultimately gave the agents the password to his phone, but when they entered it, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart,” court records say. Prosecutors allege that Tunick used the GrapheneOS “duress password” to wipe his phone, therefore deleting evidence.
Notice how the terrorists just made up false reasons related to child sexual abuse material to demand that Tunick give access to his phone. That’s highly likely to be a tactic to manipulate a person to give access to their devices just to prove that they’re innocent. In reality they probably just wanted to look through his phone to find anything that they could use against him to silence him. This is a well-known tactic, and I have written about it before where I discussed more examples.
You have to realize that it’s mostly low-IQ people who end up working as slave patrol agents, such as police officers and border agents. You should never trust these people. If you’re stupid enough to give these terrorists access to your device, one thing that could happen is that they plant child sexual abuse material or other data on it themselves to incriminate you. Good luck proving that it was not you who put that data on your device.
This duress pin feature in GrapheneOS is an excellent feature to have. I highly recommend looking into getting GrapheneOS. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better than running the stock Android OS provided by most phone manufacturers.
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