US Charges a Citizen Over a Password That Wiped His Phone at the Border

US authorities have charged American citizen Sam Tewnick with allegedly destroying data on his own phone when federal agents tried to seize the device. The incident took place on January 24, 2025, at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport.

According to the prosecution, Tewnick was detained and questioned about material related to child exploitation. The defense, however, insists in a filed motion that this was merely a pretext — a “fishing expedition” meant to uncover Tewnick's ties to Atlanta's Stop Cop City movement, which opposes the construction of a police training center.

The Duress Password

Instead of his real unlock code, Tewnick allegedly gave the agents a “duress password” — a feature of the privacy-focused operating system GrapheneOS. When entered, it does not unlock the device but wipes its data.

To bring charges against Tewnick, prosecutors invoked a little-known and rarely used statute that prohibits destroying or damaging property in order to prevent authorities from seizing it.

A Dispute Over Legality

The defense is asking the court to find the detention and seizure unlawful and to exclude all the evidence gathered. According to his lawyers, the agents denied Tewnick access to an attorney, produced no warrant and did not explain his rights, while requesting access to the phone under false pretenses. The prosecution counters that no warrant was required, since Tewnick had not yet been granted entry into the country.

Marlon Kautz of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund told The Guardian that everyone has the right to protect their personal data from unconstitutional searches — “especially in a time of rising authoritarianism.”

As The Verge notes, under the Trump administration crossing the US border has become a more fraught ordeal even for the country's own citizens: they can be held for several hours and have their social media accounts scrutinized. Many agree that the only reliable way to protect data is to delete it.

Source: The Verge