Sam Tunick Charged for Using GrapheneOS Duress Password at US Border

Activist Sam Tunick was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Atlanta's airport on 24 January 2025 after returning from the Dominican Republic. During a secondary inspection, Tunick provided a "duress" password that instantly wiped all data on his Google Pixel phone running GrapheneOS, a privacy‑focused Android fork. Federal agents charged him with willfully destroying digital evidence, a felony that could carry imprisonment.

The nonprofit GrapheneOS Foundation, based in Toronto, responded that the duress‑password feature is legal under U.S. law and protected by the Constitution. It emphasized that once data is wiped it cannot be recovered and that any legislation outlawing such security tools would likely be unconstitutional. The foundation defended the OS’s broader security model while warning users of potential legal risks.