The US Department of Justice is prosecuting an American man for allegedly providing US border authorities with a password that wiped the contents of his phone, according to an indictment and media reports.
This is believed to be the first known case in the United States where federal prosecutors have charged someone with allegedly destroying data using a password embedded in a phone’s software.
According to in the Guardianwho covered the story earlier this week after the first court hearing on Monday, Atlanta resident Samuel Tunick is fighting the charges. Tunick’s lawyers said it was illegal for US Customs and Border Protection to seize his phone when he returned to the US last year and that any evidence – including the alleged wipe of his phone – should be thrown out.
The case centers on a feature included in GrapheneOS, a custom Android operating system that runs in place of the software on most modern Google Pixel devices. Tunick’s lawyers confirmed that GrapheneOS was running on his phone.
The software feature allows the device owner to set a password that intentionally wipes the contents of this device if entered instead of the user’s unlock code.
Tunick’s case also raises ongoing questions about constitutional rights that can be invoked at the border, which the US government has long argued is not US territory until a person is allowed to enter.
THE indictment of the governmentwhich contains a typographical error (“United States Code”), accuses Tunick of allegedly providing a password to border agents that caused the phone to “erase digital content,” before the device was seized.
Tunick’s lawyers filed a motion to suppress evidencearguing that the detention and seizure were illegal. The resolution said U.S. border officials gave Tunick a secondary inspection at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on his return from overseas on Jan. 24, 2025, but that he was repeatedly denied access to a lawyer and was not informed of his legal rights.
Tunick’s lawyers accused the government of seeking access to his phone under the guise of searching for images of child exploitation, but without providing evidence to justify its suspicion. His motion to suppress argued that the government was investigating him for his association with a longtime environmental movement called Defend the Atlanta Forest, which opposes the development of a large law enforcement training campus in Atlanta. it was called “Cop City”.
The motion said border agents claimed they did not need a warrant to search Tunick’s phone because he had not yet crossed the U.S. border. The US government has long claimed it can search and seize people’s devices without a search warrant or court order until they are allowed to enter the United States.
When Tunick provided his passcode and authorities entered it, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart.” Authorities confiscated his phone anyway, before telling him he was free to go and could enter the United States.
Prosecutors later charged Tunick with a federal statute which makes it illegal to knowingly destroy or damage property to prevent the authorities from confiscating it. Tunick pleaded not guilty.
Matthew Dodge, an assistant federal public defender on Tunick’s legal team, told TechCrunch that it was incredibly rare to see the federal statute used in an indictment.
Security experts also said they had not seen charges brought in this way before.
Bill Budington, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Runa Sandvik, a digital security expert who works to protect people at risk as the founder of security consultancy Granitt, told TechCrunch that they had not seen similar cases of brute force passwords.
“I’ve never seen this before, although I’ve discussed the possible scenario with activists and journalists over the years,” Sandvik said. “I think this case serves as a reminder that authorities can argue that you’ve knowingly destroyed data, so it’s better not to have that data when you cross certain borders.”
“With a little planning ahead, you can always download the data you need once you get where you’re going,” Sandvik said.
THE Electronic Frontier Foundation has guides on how to protect your data and security at the US border and explains what rights you have.
The federal court in Atlanta overseeing the case is expected to rule on Tunick’s motion to suppress later this year. A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
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