this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
173 points (99.4% liked)

digitalescapetools

169 readers
5 users here now

A hub for discovering and sharing privacy-respecting, open-source, and self-hosted digital tools that improve productivity, creativity, and digital independence.

founded 3 months ago
MODERATORS
 

A recent case involving GrapheneOS's duress feature has sparked a debate about the balance between privacy and law enforcement. If someone is forced to unlock their phone, should they have the right to protect their personal data with an emergency wipe feature?

At the same time, critics argue that the same feature could be used by criminals to destroy evidence during an investigation, making it harder for law enforcement to do their job.

Where do you stand? Should operating systems include features like this, or do the risks outweigh the privacy benefits? .

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TAG@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

The person being searched should have refused to provide any password. US courts have agreed that the right not to be a witness against yourself means that you can refuse to answer questions about your password, since it is forcing you to confess to knowing the correct password to unlock a phone.

I believe that that is what the person's lawyer is arguing, that he was never told of his right to stay silent, so the password is illegally seized evidence, and anything that law enforcement found based on the evidence is also inadmissible in court.