https://www.404media.co/man-charged-for-wiping-phone-before-cbp-could-search-it/
A man in Atlanta has been arrested and charged for allegedly deleting data from a Google Pixel phone before a member of a secretive Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit was able to search it, according to court records and social media posts reviewed by 404 Media. The man, Samuel Tunick, is described as a local Atlanta activist in Instagram and other posts discussing the case. The exact circumstances around the search—such as why CBP wanted to search the phone in the first place—are not known. But it is uncommon to see someone charged specifically for wiping a phone, a feature that is easily accessible in some privacy and security-focused devices. 💡 Do you know anything else about this case? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co. The indictment says on January 24, Tunick “did knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone, for the purpose of preventing and impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take said property into its custody and control.” The indictment itself was filed in mid-November. Tunick was arrested earlier this month, according to a post on a crowd-funding site and court records. “Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta-based activist, Oberlin graduate, and beloved musician, was arrested by the DHS and FBI yesterday around 6pm EST. Tunick’s friends describe him as an approachable, empathetic person who is always finding ways to improve the lives of the people around him,” the site says. Various activists have since shared news of Tunick’s arrest on social media.
The indictment says the phone search was supposed to be performed by a supervisory officer from a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in 2023 these are “highly secretive units deployed at U.S. ports of entry, which target, detain, search, and interrogate innocent travelers.” “These units, which may target travelers on the basis of officer ‘instincts.’ raise the risk that CBP is engaging in unlawful profiling or interfering with the First Amendment-protected activity of travelers,” the ACLU added. The Intercept previously covered the case of a sculptor and installation artist who was detained at San Francisco International Airport and had his phone searched. The report said Gach did not know why, even years later. Court records show authorities have since released Tunick, and that he is restricted from leaving the Northern District of Georgia as the case continues. The prosecutor listed on the docket did not respond to a request for comment. The docket did not list a lawyer representing Tunick.
Ya’ll have phones?
Maybe I should not, if it can be taken with no articulable reason given.
I heard on the news today that the US is planning to force people visiting their
slave pencountry to show their social media history and 5 years of recent phone numbers. :)They really dont want anyone coming there do they… :)
https://www.dw.com/en/us-demands-access-to-tourists-social-media-histories/a-75096949
Yes! What if they would find something in my history? That would be horrible! Something like Fuck you tRump, you orange clown. Pedophile president. Does he also paint his dick orange? Does he fuck bag of cheetos every morning? Charlie kirk was fucking racist. Something like this could popup in my social media history! Oh no!
I think they are not even interested in any of that. Its just a method of control. Continuing to apply pressure to people, reminding them to bow down to authority.
They can already get the social media history from any big tech company. :)
They are getting everything since always. That is why tech companies are getting so much money from government. Social media is a dream come true for US government.
I think they are all going further and further into madness. Us government and big tech together.
They dont seem to understand that themselves. The consciousness of wanting to control by force, in combination with big tech dystopian dreams of raising humans with Ai, and watching everybody in real time… Its a very strong difference in that kind of consciousness compared to a good person on this planet.
Ive lost interest in building technology solutions myself. Because its just about ads and control now. Its just the wrong kind of consciousness in charge of humanity. Tech isnt helping us, its making us more and more helpless and depressed.
All the more reason to build open source alternatives.
Folk were plowing contributions into Linux for decades and it’s pretty mature now :).
Yeah im doing open source, that still feels good. :)
to show their social media history
For visa I think they already do, well not exactly show their social media history but the background check includes social media because people from the Philippines trying to get a visa remove pictures with Americans when they apply for visa.
Since most of the popular social networks are Americans I don’t think there is a limitation, probably even if you remove things…
it should be my fucking right to to delete my data on my device at any time. Your lack of planning on your warrant doesn’t constitute an emergency or wrong doing on my part.
If it’s GrapheneOS, he may have given them the wipe code. You enter a passcode and it deletes everything. So, CBP may have done this. In any case, fuck em.
@favoredponcho @InternetCitizen2 I knew a guy that leaved the wipecode “hidden” in the phone case hoping that it would be entered without asking if someome took his phone
instead of a destructive code, GOS should allow a code that will automatically open a secondary profile. wouldn’t get the user in trouble
I agree
Another story said he wiped it “using a code”, so it sounds like that.
https://atlpresscollective.com/2025/12/05/samuel-tunick-atlanta-activist-arrest/
If that’s the case, this would definitely be destruction of evidence.
Evidence of what? How can you prove there was evidence? What are the limitations of using your own device as designed while not under arrest?
You have to be charged with a crime first or actively part of a crime investigation for that to be true, even then thats Stretching.
Thats not true at all. The most basic example would be flushing drugs down the toilet when the piggies knock on your door.
Edit: I guess that would fall under your “actively under investigation” clause?
Yeah pretty sure if they are at your door the investigation has started. But a cell phone randomly is seriously pushing the definition of investigation me thinks.
I really don’t think that’s how it works.
Actually, that is how it works. And if you don’t believe us, then take 10 minutes and do a brief web search and you will find the same information… In this situation the law matches common sense which says that most of the time you are allowed to erase things on your own phone and when it is a special case then you need to know it’s a special case for it to be a crime.
Sounds nice tho
But in that case it would be CBP who did it, so…
We should all have a digital self detonation button in case of overreaching small dicked incel fascists.
I object to your use of penis size as a derogative. I have the smallest dick on the planet but I haven’t become a fascist yet.
Can…can we see it?
I can give you a probability density mapping in accordance to the Pauli Exclusion Principle
Duh not with naked eye
Hmmm I officially adopt the acronym OSDIF/OSDIFs
better of getting a burner phone .
Better of not visiting.
CAUT, Canadian Association of University Teachers has a travel warning about going to the US, including:
Do not wipe your phones. Do not carry a burner phone. Anyone who declares they are a Professor will be searched.
The overal advice, which I took, is avoid travel to the US. My NEXUS/GOES cards went to a shredder.
Samuel Tunick, is described as a local Atlanta activist
not a visitor
They are hunting their own citizens. It’s madness.
Who says it wasn’t? You’d still want to wipe it if it implicated you, burner or not.
The exact circumstances around the search—such as why CBP wanted to search the phone in the first place—are not known
until this isn’t an unknown it’s impossible to voice opinion on the legality of this action. If they had evidence that there was something incriminating or against the law on the device and can prove the user intentionally destroyed the info to impede the investigation(honestly this last part is fairly easy as long as the first part can happen) then yea what he did would defo break the law, but until those aspects can be determined this seems like a massive abuse of that persons 1st(due to activism), 4th (due to the seizure of private property without a lawful search), and 5th(again private property) amendment rights.
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I think your speculation is probably going to be fairly close to reality, but that makes their case very difficult to prove. If the FBI comes to my house and tells me that they’re investigating a crime and then I delete data, then probably I have broken the law. And I would have known it. So I would get convicted. But Border Patrol loves to go on fishing expeditions and search digital devices when there is no evidence that a crime has been committed. And if that’s the case, then I don’t have any obligation to preserve the data. And it doesn’t even matter what Border Patrol claims later because the legal standard is going to be what I believed at the time that they tried to go on their fishing expedition.
I think we can safely conclude that there was no warrant because no one has reported there was a warrant and that is the kind of thing that they would have reported. And if they had one they would have seized the phone itself. So we can reasonably conclude that this is a situation where they told the guy, unlock your phone or we’re going to keep you locked up or we’re going to take your phone.
Isn’t there a right to not self-incriminate?
There is, but there is a difference between not admitting you’ve broken a law and impeding an investigation into whether you broke the law or destroying evidence.
The particulars are going to be very important in this case. It’s also possible they have no case and they’ll just use the legal system to torture him, ruin his life, and waste his money then drop the charges before it ever sees a judge.
I’m having a tough time thinking of an example where this makes sense. I guess if there was one incriminating document they had evidence was on your phone and then you wiped it you’d be interfering with the investigation under the assumption there could be more? If they knew a out the one then they would have a copy of it and some proof you have it on your phone. You wiping it doesn’t help you much for that particular crime. If it’s a crime to delete the stuff they didn’t know you had, that sounds ripe for abuse. They could find something banal like a miscompleted tax form and use it to do a deep dive into someone’s entire document library, browser hx, etc. Perhaps I’m on the wrong side of the law on this one, but it seems like the law should favor a right to avoid self-incrimination and a right to protection from unjust violations of privacy. Anyway, while it looks suspicious, couldn’t it just be an accidental data wipe? Cops making accusations against someone could make them nervous, maybe make typing finger shaky and inaccurate. Maybe they could mis-enter their password 10 times in a row and trigger a wipe?
Another case is if they get a warrant for whatever’s on your phone, you knew, and then erased your phone.
Warrants make more sense, because a warrant can be issued just due to probable cause. They need that cause, but that cause doesn’t have to be directly related to your phone. Once you know they have a warrant to search it, you would qualify as “knowingly” altering or destroying evidence.
Erasing one’s phone if you had a warrant for search is exactly what I would advise someone to do. Take your chances the evidence destroying charge over handing over what they might use against you unknowingly. For all I know my stash of articles on the efficacy of vaccines could be deemed contraband in this day and age or perhaps my trans cake fart video library now violates a state law with each video bearing a one year prison sentence. There’s a term for anyone that trusts the US legal system is going to treat them justly and that’s “damn fool”
I agree with the sentiment but not with the advice “commit a felony to avoid maybe getting a felony”. There isn’t a chance you’ll get charged with destroying evidence if they’re already looking at you under a microscope like your hypothetical.
Anyone that concerned needs to just not store sensitive data on their phone, and use a messaging app that doesn’t permanently store messages, either. That way you didn’t erase your phone, AND they find nothing. Attempting to secure your data from the cops while you’re already under the lens with a warrant is far too late.
At this point I think everyone should be concerned. Use encrypted communication as much as possible. I find it really helpful to have my communications saved, so I’m not going to live with the degree of sacrifice needed to be a ghost. I have prey setup for remote wipes and have practiced rapid factory reset wipes locally.
yea you have it yes, if they have confirmation that you had said evidence, and they were seizing the device to collect more evidence regarding it then it would be obstruction of justice and destroying evidence, but they need to be able to prove that claim. Unless they can prove that claim then it’s an unlawful search (excluding port authority specific laws regarding searches because checkpoints generally have reduced restrictions on lawful searches)
Those reduced civil rights related to border patrol extend about 200 miles in from every U.S. border.
As well as 200 miles from every international airport inside the US.
The indictment does not say anything more than what is quoted. I am wondering if this is because he deleted the contents after being told it would be searched or something
Given that it says the phone was a Google Pixel, I’m guessing it was GrapheneOS and the activist entered their duress PIN before handing over the phone.
It should be noted for the record, if you ever have to use your duress code, do it before you hand the device over, don’t offer it up to them, and SHUT THE FUCK UP.
If you have time, turn the phone back on and you’ll get a “recovery” screen asking to do a factory reset. Select this and let it boot back to the setup screen then turn it off again. It’s now in a state where, if you remembered to shut the fuck up, they’ll have a much harder time proving that you destroyed evidence and didn’t just hand over a device you hadn’t setup yet, as is a somewhat common (good) practice with border crossings.
As with all things you may have to depend on, ideally you should test this flow. Carefully make a backup, verify the backup integrity, then use the duress pin ensuring that everything works the way you expected.
Then they should have to explain under what law or suspected crime he was detained and his phone was taken as evidence.
Because otherwise they can’t prove he deleted evidence of a suspected crime. So what is the suspected crime?
Agreed
If he’s a US citizen, he’s better off refusing to enter any PIN. That’s protected by the 5th amendment.
If not a citizen and this was in a port of entry context, then he would still have the 5th amendment protection. But customs can simply choose to refuse entry on discretion. So that’s a potentially serious consequence.
At least on an iPhone, if the device has been unlocked since powering on, then forensic tools such as Cellebrite’s can extract information from the phone. The absolute safest bet is to perform a wipe. If this person is an activist then he’s an easy target and likely knew to be prepared for such an interrogation with our current fascist administration.
GrapheneOS has a feature which automatically restarts the phone if it hasn’t been interacted with after some user-configurable delay. For example, you could configure the phone to automatically reboot if it hasn’t been used for an hour. This way, even if the phone is seized, that reboot timer is ticking. Once it reboots, the encryption on the phone is basically unbreakable.
Absolute safest is a wipe but just powering off the phone means they won’t be able to access anything without a PIN (protected by the 5th amendment). There’s no laws against turning your phone off.
Many phones have exploits that bypass the pin. Governments have tools specifically designed to use these
If you did it in response to an attempted seizure, they’d probably charge you for that too.
They might, but any half decent lawyer would get that thrown out on the basis of the 5th amendment.
There’s a difference between refusing to testify and actively destroying information. And the current federal courts are not friendly to civil rights, either.
The absolute safest bet is to perform a wipe.
This may be effective at preventing the government from accessing the data. But as we see, the law, including the 5th amendment, doesn’t protect from legal exposure to obstruction-type charges. Or lying to the cops type charges if you say you’ll unlock the phone, but then you actually wipe the phone.
Sure, but nothing protects you from Fascists if they want to go after you. There’s so many laws that are malleable enough that they can always come up with some excuse. You should be legally protected for doing what this person did, but they’ll still try. We’ll see if their bullshit holds up in court I guess.
It depends on port of entry. The ninth circuit, which covers San Francisco, has upheld that entrants can refuse to provide a phone pin, but other circuits have found differently.
So odd that this happened in California because there’s a pretty powerful set of protections in place in the ninth circuit specifically - not that the current admin gives a shit about the law.
This was in Atlanta, Georgia, unless you’re referring to a different incident than what’s in the OP
The second paragraph discusses an incident that occurred at San Francisco International Airport with the same circumstance. Should have indicated that’s what I found weird because it should have been prevented. The southern courts have been less protective of individual freedoms. Might be legal there under the border exemption according to their courts.
Does the Rights against self-incrimination and the Right to remain silent help here?
I don’t see something they can really do against it? I am not in the USa so, someone?
Not really, no. You have the right to not give testimony against yourself, including by not providing evidence that would hurt you, but that doesn’t mean you can actively destroy evidence.
Evidence of what exactly? Was a crime previously committed? Was it the officer’s “instincts” that told them so? This is the fun part of authoritarianism, there may have been zero evidence deleted (we don’t know), but now the act of wiping it creates a crime they can charge someone with. Bake him away, toys!
It’s CBP, probably at the airport, so I don’t think you’d find a court saying they exceeded their authority in seizing the phone for search. They have very broad authority.
It’s not ethical at all, of course, but it’s been perfectly legal for decades, under multiple administrations.
They have broad latitude to initiate searches, but if there isn’t a specific crime they’re going after you for, you’re not destroying evidence. If they’re just fishing to see what you have in there, then there isn’t evidence being destroyed because they have no way to know whether you erased stuff because you were doing crimes or just didn’t want them to see your nudes.
The standard for a search at a port of entry is lower. I don’t know how much it’s been tested in court, but that’s how they’re operating right now.
The real question is when the wipe happened. If it happened after he was informed they were taking the phone as evidence, then that’s bad for him.
But otherwise they’d have to convince a jury that he could see the future.
If everything is stored in the cloud, he may not have actually destroyed evidence/data.
All the wipe does is remove one access method to the evidence/data.
I think things are also a bit dicey when CBP is doing it. As they are a fed agency and pretty much all they do is national security.
