OMG, as a GrapheneOS user, this is both terrifying and hilarious.

The US Department of Justice is attempting to prosecute an Atlanta resident in connection with the movement against the police training center known as Cop City because he had GrapheneOS on his phone, an open-source operating system that enables users to enter a passcode and wipe a phone clean.

I didn’t know it had this feature, but now that I know, I’m going to make sure I know how to use it. Thank you Streisand effect!

The defendant, Sam Tunick, was stopped for interrogation at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport on 24 January last year, after vacationing in the Dominican Republic. Unbeknown to him, federal authorities had put him on a terrorism watchlist because of his alleged association with the movement against Cop City.

Okay, so it seems that he’s being targeted for exercising his First Amendment rights.

Tunick asked four times during the interrogation to speak with a lawyer, but was rebuffed each time, according to courtroom testimony. Additionally, the agents produced no warrant and did not read Tunick his rights.

So, unlawful arrest and further violation of constitutional rights.

Agent Findley and several others repeatedly asked Tunick to open his phone during the interrogation, telling him they would seize it if he did not. When he finally provided a passcode, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart”, according to the motion.

Hahahahahahahahahaha! The cops did it themselves! Hahahahahaha!!!

They’re trying to expand the precedent set by giving protestors 50 years for using Signal chat.

If you don’t use software that lets the government spy on you, you are a terrorist.

Turns out the guys killing millions in the name of democracy are fascists after all. Who could have seen that one coming?

It was over destruction of evidence, not the OS.

When [the defendant] finally provided a passcode, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart”, according to the motion.

I use a duress PIN to protect my data — here’s how it works and why everyone needs one