@evacide FWIW, I keep a flash drive with my house keys. It contains an ext4 file system. On it are 3 files: a directory named 'root' used as a mount point, a large file containing a LUKS file system, and a GPG-encrypted LUKS password (randomly generated and one I've never seen as plain text). At a border, I can truthfully tell them that I cannot decrypt the password without my GPG keyring, which I can't access remotely - I have to be home to get it.

@evacide I’m no law expert, but the defendant didn’t delete the information, the border security did. They did it unknowingly, but it was still them who deleted the information, and I think that matters.

He could probably still be charged with lying to police, but I’d think that’s a lesser crime.

@evacide In this scenario, a blank phone and a phone with "sus" technology both appear to be risks for an unhinged regime.

A potential approach to this is to:
1. prep a non-Graphene phone with fascist-passing use history and software installs. No sensitive data on device, even if its encrypted.
2. only access and store sensitive data remotely
3. have a verifiable alternative story for anything that is related to 2.

@evacide so many of the comments here are variations of ‘but what if X, would it still be illegal to intentionally destroy evidence then?’ (yes)

@evacide Ah the border. A place where you are subject to laws, but not protected by them. Neat trick.

@evacide A perfect example of „unlawful law“. This is a question I’m asking myself very often: What should we do when the law becomes obviously unlawful but it’s still lawfully because it’s the law?

@evacide

And then they allowed him into the US, so they could legally arrest him here.
They've got it both ways. They can snatch you while in border limbo, and certainly after they pass you through. Just setting foot on a US airport surface seems enough to justify suspicion to revoke every right.

@evacide I do wonder if this would still be considered a crime under an administration that isn't actively trying to turn America into Russia/Nazi Germany.

@evacide My general opinion on this sort of thing is, it's a tool for when you'd rather take the charge for destruction of evidence instead of the charge for whatever they'd find otherwise is.

@evacide (sorry I can't read the article without disabling ad blocker) I wonder if it would be the same to reboot/clear RAM instead of wipe the device. Same question for graphene's periodic reboot. If my device reboots every hour, have I destroyed evidence?

@evacide what about a dummy session PIN ? How will it be considered form lawyer as no evidence found on device ? (Like encrypt data still behind real user pin ?)

@evacide A very tricky situation. Depending on the exact circumstances, they can charge you with a crime. Even if it's not, you'll be spending a lot of money proving that in court.

Yet in other situations, it can be perfectly innocent and cause no issues whatsoever.

As any lawyer will tell you, "it depends." ;)

The Supremes ruled, many years ago, that even US citizens have no constitutional right within (IIRC) 500 miles of any border. So there's that to consider.

@evacide a lunatic with the codes to "our" nukes seems to be keeping our former allies at bay. They're as concerned/worried as we are.

We're getting our renewed passports. I've made the statement if we plan on getting out of this country, we bring burner phones and no computer. I wish the guy the best and a gofundme if needed.

@evacide It's import to make informed decisions and everyone has their own level of risk tolerance.

Personally, one of the reasons I run GrapheneOS is for the Duress PIN feature. But I'm more risk tolerant than many can be.

#Privacy #GraphenOS