Can You Be Charged for Wiping Your Own Phone at the Border?
At an airport border stop, officers asked for a phone passcode. What the traveler allegedly typed in did not unlock the phone. It erased it. Now it is a federal case.
In this episode, we explain the legal fight in plain English:
- What happened at the airport, according to court filings and news reports
- What a "duress" password is, and why prosecutors say this case is the first of its kind
- What the defense argues about the search, the lack of a warrant, and the right to a lawyer
- Why the law on border searches and phone passcodes is unsettled, and why it differs from state to state
-…
The skinny
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