As much as I disagree with and detest those Antifa asshats and everything they stand for, this news item grabbed my attention. Sam Tunick was stopped for interrogation in Atlanta’s airport while on the way home from vacation in the Dominican Republic. What he didn’t know is the feds put him on a terrorism watchlist because of his association with the protests of Cop City.
The agents took him to a room and began an inspection, but all their questions were centered on child sexual abuse images. (If the Feds want you, they always allege some sort of child porn charges. Ask the Branch Davidians how that plays out.) Tunick asked four times during the interrogation to speak with a lawyer, but was refused access to an attorney each time. Additionally, the agents produced no warrant and did not read Tunick his rights. They tried to use the “port of entry” exception to search him and his belongings.
Agent Findley and several others repeatedly asked Tunick to open his phone during the interrogation, telling him they would seize it if he did not. When he finally provided a passcode, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart”, according to the motion.
It turns out the phone was a Google Pixel running GrapheneOS. One of the security features the OS has is a “duress” code that, if entered, resets the phone to factory settings and wipes the memory. It’s such an issue that police in the EU assume you are a criminal if you have this OS installed. Anyhow, the Feds have charged him with a Federal felony:
On or about January 24, 2025, in the Northern District of Georgia, the defendant, SAMUEL TUNICK, before and during the search for and seizure of property by Customs and Border Patrol Tactical Terrorism Response Team Supervisory Officer L.C., a person authorized to make such search and seizure, did knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone, for the purpose of preventing and impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take said property into its custody and control, in violation of Title 18, Untied [sic] States Code, Section 2232(a).
Duress passwords exist for scenarios like border crossings, where individuals face immense pressure to unlock devices without traditional legal protections. The US has long maintained that routine border searches don’t require warrants, creating what civil liberties groups call a “Constitution-free zone” for travelers’ digital lives. A 2019 federal court ruling found suspicionless phone searches at borders violated the Fourth Amendment, but the government continues doing it anyway.
I don’t have a problem with this. I am less afraid of criminals than I am the government, who seems to overlook this kind of behavior if you have certain connections. Remember Hillary Clinton and Bleachbit?
Jury nullification is a thing. That’s all I will say about that.
