U.S. Government Prosecutes Citizen for Using Phone's 'Duress Password' at Border

The U.S. Justice Department is prosecuting American citizen Samuel Tunick for allegedly using a "duress password" to wipe his phone's data during a border search, according to reporting from TechCrunch and The Verge.

On January 24, 2025, federal agents detained Tunick at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport. The government alleges Tunick provided a fake password that triggered a data-wiping feature of GrapheneOS, a custom Android operating system, rather than the actual unlock code. Prosecutors are charging Tunick under a federal statute that prohibits the knowing destruction of property to prevent authorities from seizing it. Matthew Dodge, an assistant federal public defender for Tunick, told TechCrunch that the use of this statute in an indictment is "incredibly rare."

Tunick’s attorneys argue the detention was a "pretext for a fishing expedition" into his ties to the Stop Cop City movement and the environmental group Defend the Atlanta Forest, rather than a legitimate search for child exploitation imagery as claimed by agents. The defense further alleges that agents denied Tunick access to a lawyer and failed to provide a warrant or inform him of his legal rights. The government countered that no warrant was required because Tunick had not yet been granted entry into the U.S.

Security experts cited by TechCrunch, including Bill Budington of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Granitt founder Runa Sandvik, noted they had not seen similar charges brought over the use of duress passwords. Marlon Kautz of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund told The Guardian that individuals have a right to secure private data against unconstitutional searches. Tunick has pleaded not guilty to the charges.