GrapheneOS Defends Data-Wiping Function That Blocked US Border Search

br0ceph

yasss this is a feel good story they entered the pass themselves, so by their own treasonous logic, they should charge themselves. hope the crim charges get dismissed, and a civil suit is filed get paid, donate a chunk Go Team Graphene!!!!

BLKNSLVR

Keep fighting the good fight GrapheneOS!

butvacuum

is it just me or is it about once a decade somebody gets publicised for this and the government *really* throws the book at them.

1970-01-01

"defends" is doing quite a bit of flashy work for this headline. "Feature works as advertised, nobody upset" would be a much more practical headline.

ChrisArchitect

Related: US Government targets Cop City protester over phone operating system https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49024436

mmastrac

The founding fathers would be aghast at what America became. Hard to imagine modern America passing some of those constitutional amendments that older America passed wayyy back.

whizzter

Someone who is a lawyer knows any details about the US justice systems precedents with regards to the fifth amendmend (regards to self incrimination) vs obstruction of justice (by destroying evidence) as would be applicable to a duress wipe? Also would the distinction of being (or not) read their miranda rights and placed under arrest in this case make a difference as to the status of any possible obstruction?

mingus88

This should be an interesting case in today’s legal climate Obviously grafeneOS has no liability. But the owner of the device didn’t take the action to remove the data, the CBP officer entered it. We already have some precedent around being forced to give up your password. How does that change if you are forced to give up a password that is destructive? What if the password works fine at home and the same password does a wipe based on location? Either way, the user complied, and did not take action to wipe their device.

pavel_lishin

The "agent entered password themselves, therefore they're to blame" seems as good of a logic as "I'm going to start swinging my arms and start walking forward, so if you don't move, it's YOU hitting YOURSELF".

tracker1

And this is why part of my plans for any international travel are to simply have a physical notebook with phone numbers to trusted friends/family and to buy throwaway devices on the other side (phone and chromebook or similar). TBF, similar mindset if I ever attend defcon, etc. as well.

Magicrafter13

As a GrapheneOS user and a U.S. citizen that cares about the constitution, I fully support the actions taken by the individual

yardie

This is possibly the best advertising. GrapheneOS was kind of niche before. But if the US Government hates you then you're on the right track.

gadders

UBS had a similar capability on their laptops so they facilitate tax evasion for US clients: https://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/30/why-did-the-us-pay-this-form...

cdrnsf

The border agents didn't act in good faith, regardless of what they're empowered to do. They wanted the data for one reason and fabricated another to prompt the device search. The data they were interested in pertained to protest activity protected under the constitution but the lie they told was about something criminal. That anything within 100 miles of the border is constitution free tosses that out, I guess, but is extremely problematic on its own.

luxuryballs

Next version should wipe the phone while presenting a dummy account so they can't easily tell anything is missing.

shreddit

Couldn’t GrapheneOS provide a special pin which boots into an “empty”session? Where the user can install some default stuff to not look suspicious?

Zak

This probably doesn't hold up legally, but it does hold up logically: if the reason a border search exemption exists is to prevent importation of material that is unlawful to import, wiping a storage device also fulfills that purpose.

nilamo

No warrent? No data. Easy as.

josefritzishere

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is supposed to protect people from random and arbitrary stops and searches. It's a fundamental American right. But in the 100 mile border zone, the federal government has tried to impinge on those basic rights. https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone

TheqO

It's great publicity for GrapheneOS, has probably led to a huge spike in traffic to their website and downloads. And ongoing publicity as the trial happens.