The US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border

美国政府指控一名美国公民在边境清除手机数据

The government is prosecuting US citizen Sam Tunick for allegedly providing authorities with a “duress password” that wiped his phone when they tried to seize it at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport on January 24th, 2025. Federal agents detained Tunick at the airport, allegedly questioning him about child exploitation images. However, a motion filed by Tunick’s lawyers argues this was simply “a pretext for a fishing expedition into Mr Tunick’s connections” to the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta.

美国政府正在起诉美国公民萨姆·图尼克（Sam Tunick），指控他在 2025 年 1 月 24 日于亚特兰大哈茨菲尔德-杰克逊机场被扣留时，向联邦探员提供了一个“胁迫密码”（duress password），导致手机数据被清除。联邦探员当时在机场扣留了图尼克，并就涉嫌儿童剥削图像的问题对他进行盘问。然而，图尼克的律师提交的一份动议指出，这仅仅是当局为了调查图尼克与亚特兰大“停止警察城市”（Stop Cop City）运动之间联系而进行的“钓鱼执法”借口。

The government is turning to a little-known and rarely-used statute that makes it illegal to destroy or damage property to stop authorities from seizing it. They allege that Tunick used a feature of the privacy-focused GrapheneOS to wipe his phone by giving authorities a duress password, instead of the actual passcode to unlock the phone. The defense has argued that the detention and seizure were unlawful, and therefore all evidence should be tossed.

政府援引了一项鲜为人知且极少使用的法规，该法规规定，为阻止当局扣押财产而销毁或损坏财产属于违法行为。检方指控图尼克利用了注重隐私的 GrapheneOS 系统的一项功能，通过向当局提供“胁迫密码”而非解锁手机的真实密码，从而清除了手机数据。辩方则辩称，此次扣留和扣押行为是非法的，因此所有相关证据都应被驳回。

According to Tunick’s attorneys, agents refused him access to a lawyer, did not provide a warrant, or inform him of his legal rights. They also allege that access to his phone was sought under false pretenses. The government has countered that they were not required to produce a warrant because Tunick had not yet been granted permission to enter the US.

据图尼克的律师称，探员拒绝让他联系律师，未提供搜查令，也未告知其法律权利。他们还指控当局是以虚假借口获取其手机访问权限的。政府则反驳称，由于图尼克当时尚未获得进入美国的许可，因此他们无需出示搜查令。

Marlon Kautz, a member of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, told the Guardian earlier this week that, “we all have a right to secure our private data against unconstitutional searches. And we should — especially in a time of rising authoritarianism.” Under the Trump administration, entering the US has become a much more fraught process, even for citizens who can face hours-long detention and scrutiny of social media accounts. Most agree the only way to protect your data is to delete it.

亚特兰大团结基金（Atlanta Solidarity Fund）成员马龙·考茨（Marlon Kautz）本周早些时候告诉《卫报》：“我们都有权保护自己的私人数据，免受违宪搜查。我们理应这样做——尤其是在威权主义抬头的时候。”在特朗普政府治下，进入美国的过程变得更加令人不安，即便是美国公民也可能面临长达数小时的扣留以及对社交媒体账户的审查。大多数人认为，保护数据的唯一方法就是将其删除。