GrapheneOS duress PIN could land a man in prison (www.androidauthority.com)
from floofloof@lemmy.ca to privacy@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 12:04
https://lemmy.ca/post/68408297

#privacy

threaded - newest

akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone on 26 Jul 12:10 next collapse

This is yesterday’s news. Destroying evidence is a crime in a lot of jurisdictions. With that in mind, I don’t understand how somebody who apparently uses Graphene OS didn’t bring an empty burner when crossing one of the most notorious borders in the world.

Which isn’t to say that the laws that require you to unlock your phone and that throw you in jail if you securely wipe it aren’t hostile and inhumane.

Aequitas@feddit.org on 26 Jul 12:20 next collapse

How are they supposed to know there was evidence on it? I’m allowed to delete my files, aren’t I?

akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone on 26 Jul 12:38 next collapse

I’m no lawyer, but I think that’s called circumstantial(ly improbable). Try convincing a jury of that. 🥲

RQG@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 14:21 collapse

This sounds a lot like proving my innocence instead of them having to prove guilt.

DupaCycki@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 13:43 next collapse

Be careful not to swallow your spit. They may think you’re swallowing a bomb and shoot you on the spot.

Eggman@thelemmy.club on 26 Jul 14:19 next collapse

They aren’t but it is the same as if you have been accused of murdering some one and you burn the car you are accused of moving the body to the river in.

Edit: I am not saying i think its how i should work but its the logic behind it

ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip on 26 Jul 16:55 collapse

They didn’t accuse him of anything, and let him go afterwards. This was an illegal search attempt.

Carmakazi@piefed.social on 26 Jul 16:13 next collapse

Not if you’re given a Lawful Order (tm) to produce that material. Whether or not that material is incriminating is irrelevant.

dadarobot@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 16:46 next collapse

i think it would have been different if he wiped it before he came through customs. he gave them the pin, which destroyed the data after it was requested. almost like the phone was boobytrapped.

personally i just try to delete most of my communication apps on the plane before i get back to the states (signal, lemmy, instagram…) in case they want to search my phone and get mad about a meme. (precident). i also try to offload as much as possible to selfhosted apps where applicable (rss reader, podcasts) so i can just log back in and have everything.

i dont know how far these searches can go, but id be worried about password managers and app store history too along with any account where you can just “log in with google” or whatever. once the device is unlocked and in their hands, they can have access to quite a bit of personal information.

i bet theyre just pissy this technology exists and are trying to make it illegal.

fodor@lemmy.zip on 27 Jul 12:20 collapse

Not quite. If you know or shouldreasonabley believe someone is about to arrest you or sue you, depending on the circumstances, judges can tell juries to assume the erased data would show something bad. But it depends on the details.

OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 12:24 next collapse

If I understand correctly they didn’t actually delete anything it just shreds the encryption keys so it can’t be accessed. Idk if the difference matters a whole lot though.

akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone on 26 Jul 12:37 next collapse

Very interesting! I’d like to ask a lawyer how they think the courts would view that. The data is intact, just not decryptable. 🤣

inmate_p01135809@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 13:27 collapse

Sounds like we might find out how the courts will view it.

akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone on 26 Jul 14:04 collapse

Stay strong 😓✊

ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Jul 13:00 next collapse

No it wipes the data from the phone

GrapheneOS provides users with the ability to set a duress PIN/Password that will irreversibly wipe the device (along with any installed eSIMs) once entered anywhere where the device credentials are requested

source

madasi@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Jul 13:20 collapse

That is a distinction without a difference. Either way the once accessible data can no longer be accessed any longer.

electric_nan@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 13:53 next collapse

Except that this person wasn’t accused or even suspected of a crime.

GMac@feddit.org on 26 Jul 19:46 next collapse

In order to be convicted of destroying evidence, there needs to be proof that there was “evidence” on the phone in the first place.

If something on the phone is already known without doubt, then what’s the need for access? if there is doubt at the time of the wipe then there is no proof or destroying evidence. 🤷‍♂️

picnic@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Jul 20:47 collapse

I cross the US border every few months.

Stopped carrying a laptop, still crossing the border with a graphene phone, tho.

tlekiteki@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Jul 12:16 next collapse

Supreme court has ruled that warrantless phone search at the border is bogus, but theyre too shitpantsed to stick with it

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 16:33 next collapse

they are evil and hypocritical is what they are.

they want to make an example out of people trying to escape the panopticon.

wax@feddit.nu on 26 Jul 21:09 next collapse

Does this apply to non-US citizens as well?

tlekiteki@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Jul 16:19 collapse

You mean slave/s?

SunDevil@lemmy.ml on 27 Jul 00:25 collapse

Not if you live within the jurisdiction of the 4th Circuit. The court “ruled that a lower standard applies to manual searches, allowing the government to conduct extraordinarily invasive electronic device searches without any suspicion of wrongdoing, simply because the border officer chooses to search by hand rather than with a forensic tool.”

eff.org/…/fourth-circuit-says-border-agents-can-s…

gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 13:10 next collapse

this is what peak democracy™ looks like, dont be fooled

MacNCheezus@lemmy.today on 28 Jul 03:41 collapse

What is the charge, eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?

Sir_Gkar@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 13:34 next collapse

Seems like what’s needed is the ability to load an alternate profile or some kind of demo mode based on the pin. Something that looks normal but doesn’t have any info you don’t want others to see, without actually deleting anything.

WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today on 26 Jul 14:15 next collapse

Alternately, a user profile that isn’t displayed anywhere, but accessible only through a specific PIN, maybe. Not sure how you’d explain the storage space either option used, however.

jmp242@sopuli.xyz on 26 Jul 14:20 collapse

It should work like truecrypt used to where there’s no sign some of the encrypted blob is not actually visible in the fake os.

Carl@anarchist.nexus on 26 Jul 15:04 collapse

I think the point is that if you load an empty profile (no photos, no videos, no apps, etc) but your phone storage is nearly full, it could throw up a red flag.

Xerxos@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 23:26 collapse

That’s why the fake profile would not show that the storage is full. Unless they try to load lots of data onto the fake profile it would not be obvious.

steelplatedmech@piefed.ca on 26 Jul 14:42 next collapse

Or loads a dummy profile and deletes other profiles without giving away what is happening.

stink@lemmygrad.ml on 26 Jul 15:23 collapse

The dummy profile thing works great. I will say, I’ve been in the same position as this bloke when traveling abroad. Before I got back to the states, I saved all my photos to proton drive, then wiped that profile.

Coleslaw4145@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 16:31 next collapse

I had this feature on a Xiaomi phone that i had a few years ago. I could even set up the fingerprint reader to open a different profile depending on which finger i used.

kureta@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 16:45 collapse

Sounds awesome.

GMac@feddit.org on 26 Jul 19:38 next collapse

Dont think that would be as secure. Once a phone has been unlocked after reboot, even if it has been locked again, the operating system and ram can be accessed quite easily with the correct tools and border controls have those tools.

Even a Graphene phone is only properly secure before first unlock after reboot. So i would not personally rely on allowing acess to any profile. I would assume its possible, (probably trivial) to gain complete access from there.

Any duress pin use should be covered under a person’s right to avoid self incrimination.

If the phone is owned by your employer and they are the investigation target, then you might be on dodgy ground.

OrganicMustard@lemmy.world on 27 Jul 09:21 next collapse

You can already have multiple independent users in graphene (maybe in stock android too idk). You have to switch them before the possible search though.

fodor@lemmy.zip on 27 Jul 12:17 collapse

Nothing is needed. Erase your shit before you travel in or out of the US.

DupaCycki@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 13:40 next collapse

Name one thing that can’t land you in prison in the US. I’ll wait.

WitchKnight@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 26 Jul 13:51 next collapse

For profit slave labor prisons are very lucrative I hear

AmyAye@nord.pub on 26 Jul 14:10 next collapse

Indirectly murdering hundreds of thousands of people in pursuit of profits.

ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Jul 14:13 next collapse

With the caveat that, if you don’t achieve those profits, it will land you in jail.

DupaCycki@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 17:42 next collapse

Got me there

msage@programming.dev on 27 Jul 08:09 collapse

And manslaughter with a car.

ReignOfTerror@lemmy.world on 27 Jul 14:33 collapse

That’s an instant death sentence if the person you’re running over is an ICE agent, however.

PattyMcB@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 15:01 next collapse

Being white

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 16:32 next collapse

pedophilia (if you are rich)

arin@lemmy.world on 26 Jul 19:15 next collapse

Even convicted pedo can avoid prison www.cnn.com/2014/04/…/delaware-du-pont-rape-case

DragonOracleIX@lemmy.ml on 27 Jul 08:25 collapse

You don’t even need that first part. Being rich makes it 10x harder for you to be prosecuted.

Trioxin@lemmygrad.ml on 26 Jul 14:05 collapse

Everything, as long as you’re the president and say it was an “official act”…

shadowtofu@discuss.tchncs.de on 26 Jul 17:35 next collapse

You have to carry a piece of paper in your wallet that contains a PIN. The piece of paper contains no further information, just a PIN. You decline to answer any questions regarding this piece of paper or your phone’s PIN.

This might not be a good idea, depending on your jurisdiction.

Melobol@lemmy.ml on 26 Jul 18:53 next collapse

You can have a business card with a "phone"number on it. (Your pin can be any part of that number it is only you who needs to know where to start reading the code). You don’t need to have a sus number only piece of paper. :)

vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Jul 21:14 collapse

The point is that the cops would find and enter the pin.

It’s the wipe pin.

They wiped it, not you.

dsilverz@catodon.rocks on 26 Jul 19:13 next collapse

I'm not going to disclose my specific way, but numbers don't need decimal digits to be expressed and parsed. An hypothetical example:

Oh... ye shadow! Nahamah, my Mother
Believe it or not, this is encoding the today's date, 2026-07-26.

Oh = 2 letters
Elipsis = no letters, so 0
ye = 2 letters
shadow = 6 letters

Nahamah = 7

My = 2
Mother = 6

The funny part? I just conjured this technique during the composition of this very reply. It's somehow easy for me to conjure atypical steganographic techniques, and I use steganography quite often IRL. In this way, I can literally write down my passwords and keep in my wallet, and absolutely nobody will get to figure out it's meant to be a password.

Luckily for FBI and other investigation agencies, I dont even think of visiting the USA, but good luck for any fed or cop trying to keep up with my plethora of steganographic techniques (and my neurodivergent brain) amidst plausible deniability if I ever did. Lol

!privacy@lemmy.ml

utjebe@reddthat.com on 26 Jul 19:49 collapse

Or just set it to your mmddyy or something typical for weak passwords

quick_snail@feddit.nl on 26 Jul 19:43 next collapse

And that person is the officer that destroyed the evidence

hamid@crazypeople.online on 26 Jul 23:14 next collapse

Funny how the lemmy liberals never believe that the US is the authoritarian country lol

stochasticity@lemmy.world on 27 Jul 05:10 next collapse

Really? I feel like I’m constantly seeing complaints about the US’s growing authoritarianism.

themurphy@lemmy.ml on 27 Jul 05:26 next collapse

They didnt grow to it. Nobody just gave a shit before, because it wasnt against all skin colors.

1984@lemmy.today on 27 Jul 06:11 collapse

It’s not even about skin color, not really. It’s about poverty and people not having a chance to get out of it. I would also commit crimes if I felt my life had no future and im white.

As a consequence, black people commit crimes and white cops become racist because they see that. But its not really about skin color if you look at the full picture.

hamid@crazypeople.online on 27 Jul 11:46 next collapse

Oh yeah racism in the US is not about skin color, brilliant take.

1984@lemmy.today on 27 Jul 12:01 collapse

It’s about poverty, yeah. White people would act the same as black people if they lived in poverty. In fact, you see that happening in America too.

You have to give someone a chance in life or you end up with desperate people. I never understood the idea that poor people should just say no to crime when they have absolutely nothing to live for otherwise. That’s crazy.

hamid@crazypeople.online on 27 Jul 12:42 collapse

If you don’t think racism is real and not at all based on race you are a literal fucking idiot. Try reading a fucking book whitey. Fanon, George Jackson, Malcom X. Take you pick, not sure you’ll have the comprehension to understand.

[deleted] on 27 Jul 12:47 collapse

.

pelican476@discuss.online on 27 Jul 14:48 collapse

I think you’re probably equally intelligent unfortunately

pelican476@discuss.online on 27 Jul 14:47 collapse

I think this is misguided and a bit too optimistic. Racist cops don’t become racist because of their lived experiences, they’re already racist when they take the job.

hamid@crazypeople.online on 27 Jul 12:47 next collapse

I mean from the cadre of Anti-russia, Anti-china accounts who try and tell me I am a conspiracy theorist for thinking that the CIA is behind “all world events” despite talking about a specific event where the CIA actually overthrew the country I am from.

hamid@crazypeople.online on 28 Jul 12:03 collapse

lemmy liberals are a specific group of people and not everyone.

tgc2darkness@lemmy.ml on 28 Jul 03:20 next collapse

What they don’t believe is that it has started decades before Trump

pinto@lemmy.world on 28 Jul 03:59 collapse

In a thread where people are saying US is an authoritarian country: “wow they never say this”

hamid@crazypeople.online on 28 Jul 12:02 collapse

This thread isn’t the lemmy liberals? I’m not talking about the people on lemmy.ml privacy and this thread? Maybe if this comm was on shitjustfash

[deleted] on 27 Jul 05:27 next collapse

.

Skipcast@lemmy.world on 27 Jul 07:40 next collapse

Sounds like bs without any definitive proof

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 27 Jul 08:04 next collapse

They implied that based on his use of grapheneOS/erasure of the device. In reality he is a Stop Cop City activist. The fascists just want to associate good privacy and security practices with criminality and depravity.

floofloof@lemmy.ca on 27 Jul 08:06 next collapse

What a coincidence that it was the guy protesting the police who was also suspected of possessing such materials. If it turns out they had real independent grounds to suspect he had such images, I’ll change this view, but for now I assume that’s the cops’ standard line to shut down people’s questions. Just say they thought the political target had CSAM, and immediately people see him differently, plus the police can accuse anyone who challenges their actions of supporting pedophiles.

BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world on 27 Jul 09:24 collapse

How do you know if phone got erased?

SupremeDonut@lemmy.ml on 27 Jul 09:07 next collapse

If the phone’s security prevents them from accessing information, then they have no information. How can they prove there was any information on it to begin with?

JamesBoeing737MAX@sopuli.xyz on 27 Jul 15:22 collapse

They just accuse you of withholding evidence. Yay for freedom of speech.

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 27 Jul 15:37 collapse

@SupremeDonut@lemmy.ml the courts already decided that it was okay to jail people for literal years for not providing a password: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Rawls

and there are more:

  • United States v. Fricosu
  • United States v. Doe (2012)
  • United States v. Kirschner
SupremeDonut@lemmy.ml on 27 Jul 23:23 next collapse

Jfc. Next you’ll be jailed for not having a phone

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 27 Jul 23:41 collapse

in spain, you’re automatically added to a watch list if you publicly use a pixel because its capable of running graphene. lol

SupremeDonut@lemmy.ml on 28 Jul 01:48 next collapse

That’s fucking wild.

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 29 Jul 00:02 collapse

And old.

This has been a thing for decades but too few noticed and many more will stay unaware unless it bites them.

DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf on 28 Jul 22:00 collapse

I assume all PC users are also on watchlists because they can run Linux or BSD too? Even if they haven’t erased Windows yet?

W3dd1e@lemmy.zip on 28 Jul 03:53 collapse

That was a court order though. If there is no court order and no warrant, they shouldn’t be snooping through anything.

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 28 Jul 15:25 collapse

the courts have decided that all ports of entry – including airports – are constitution free zones; meaning that the constitution does not apply there.

as a result most americans – 2/3rds of them – live in places where the constitution does not apply to them.

W3dd1e@lemmy.zip on 29 Jul 00:23 collapse

Yeah, this is bananas. Especially when Antifa is labeled as a terrorist group and they say all of us are Antifa

Zerush@lemmy.ml on 28 Jul 03:00 collapse

BS. It’s a claim from last year and not only in Spain, that criminals often use encrypted phomes (logical), among others, Graphene OS, but also iOS and Android. Not that all who use encrypted devices (or message apps) are criminals, which due the amount of these devices result absurd to say. As often, periodists write and share half understood news. In Spain as also in the rest of the EU, phones and messages of individuals can only be intercepted by the police with a court order in a criminal investigation, not globaly like in the US. There may be cases when an individual under criminal investigation deletes incriminating messages, which can be punished for concealment of evidences.

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/dc73f69d-b124-49ff-a62a-7aca652e2a98.png">