Technology

It pretty much makes privacy illegal.

That privacy was already long gone by the time of this case.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2232

(a)Destruction or Removal of Property To Prevent Seizure.—
Whoever, before, during, or after any search for or seizure of property by any person authorized to make such search or seizure, knowingly destroys, damages, wastes, disposes of, transfers, or otherwise takes any action, or knowingly attempts to destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, transfer, or otherwise take any action, for the purpose of preventing or impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take such property into its custody or control or to continue holding such property under its lawful custody and control, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

If he hadn't used duress and had just refused, he'd have been fine. Graphine is secure and would have had his back

If he hadn't given them the code and instead left it in his wallet, and they did it themselves, he'd have been fine.

All he had to do was plead the 5th.

He's going to get hit with a felony for destroying data to prevent a search. There are tons of precedents in the 11th Circuit for searching without a warrant.

A duress password is only useful if what you'd be facing is worse than 18 U.S. Code § 2232a, and then only if they don't have enough to convict you already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2rokxux5cU`___`

Dude is just protesting the construction of a large cop training facility near him. I don't know what the fuck he did to get on the FBI radar, but I wish him good luck; he's gonna need it.

Advice: if you know you don´t want your phone searched going through customs, don't bring it! Or wipe it before you go through. I'm 100% on this guy's side, but we're not exactly living in a free and open society.

You know, since we are entering into a lot of legal weirdness here, how about this:

You give the cops TWO passwords. You tell them one is the duress password, and the other is the password that will unlock the phone.

Desperate and without a warrant, they try one. Wrong try! Phone is wiped.

In reality, both are duress passwords but they would have to prove that. (GoS only currently supports one duress password)

Yes, it's ridiculous, but everything about this is ridiculous.

I think what he did was brave and I think there's a good chance he loses this, and I think the guilty verdict will be really unpopular

There's an easy legal loophole.

When you seize their phone, tell them your passcode is explicitly not the destruction code, and do not answer any more questions besides insisting this.

When they inevitability try to put in the only thing you mentioned, its entirely their fault for the erase.

Your milage may vary depending on financial class.