In this new America, if you are against the regime, you are subject to unlawful search and seizures. Take Sam Tunick for instance. He is an American citizen. However, he is a protester, especially against law enforcement. Sam is part of the Stop Cop City (SCC) movement. He was stopped while trying to leave a flight at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on January 24, 2025. Police detained him under the guise of “alleged child exploitation images”.
Now, keep in mind, he was not told where this allegation came from. Police demanded he hand over the phone. So, he did. The phone was locked and police demanded he tell them the password. Sam gave them the password, and the law enforcement agent entered it. Then, “the screen went blank, flashed several times and the phone appeared to restart,” according to court filings. Knowing something happened to the phone, agents still took the device and told Sam he was free to enter the country.
The Stop Cop City movement, that we mentioned earlier, is a decentralized protest movement based in Atlanta that opposes the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, commonly known as “Cop City.” His lawyers claim that the “child exploitation” reason was cover to gain access to his device for a “fishing expedition”. Hopes that his device had contacts to the Stop Cop City movement.
American citizen arrested for wiping his phone
Why is this a big deal?
That’s because Sam gave them a password. It wasn’t the password to unlock his device, it was a “duress” password. His phone ran GrapheneOS, a privacy-focused Android operating system that can be installed on Google Pixel phones instead of Google’s standard software. GrapheneOS allows users to set a separate “duress password.” Unlike the phone’s normal passcode, entering the duress password automatically wipes the device’s contents.
The Justice Department later charged Tunick under a federal law that makes it illegal to knowingly destroy or damage property to prevent authorities from seizing it.
Unlike what you hear online, or in movies, cops can lie to people. The Justice Department claims that since he didn’t enter the United States, officially, he is not subject to protection provided under the Constitution. Regardless of whether he’s an American citizen or not. The judge in the case is expected to rule by October.
Now, given the track record for Trump’s Justice Department, this might not go anywhere. However, given that conservative judges tend to protect the administration, as much as they can, he could do some time. While some conservative pundits claim, “if you have nothing to hide”. However, would they willing hand over their devices that expose them to having secretly downloaded Grindr on their device? Probably not.
This opens a bigger can of worms
The funniest thing I heard about this case was a tech guy saying, “imagine going to jail for doing a factory reset on your phone.” While we can make jokes about this, it does open a bigger problem: law enforcement can search your private property for no reason. When I say “no reason”, that is looking for a reason to detain you even if the original claim is bogus.
While people may think this isn’t a big deal – simply because it’s Trump agenda – what if the roles were switched? What if it were a Democrat that ordered to do the same thing. They would be screaming civil liberties or whatever. Which makes sense, given that these are the same people that scream “I’m an American” when they are arrested in a foreign country.
Conservatives claim they are persecuted for their beliefs or religion, yet no facts are ever illustrated. Yet, when we have so many instances of it actually happening to other people, their response usually is – see how you like it.
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