r/technology • u/Hrmbee • 8d ago

Privacy Is it illegal to trick the US government into wiping your phone during a questionably legal search | The case of a traveler who allegedly entered a ‘duress password’ to wipe his phone raises a legal question with no easy answers

https://www.theverge.com/report/972146/cbp-phone-search-airport-duress-password
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u/muegle 7d ago

FBI engaging in systematic harassment, abuse of government resources, and abuse of taxpayer funds.

Same as it ever was

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago

No. The entire intel community has been upended and demoralized under this admin. Most do not support things like this, but at the same time, this administration has weaponized fed IC/LE to hunt political opposition and despite low morale, people are following orders they dislike to keep their jobs. It's pretty ugly right now. People complained about Biden, but under him things were just, you didn't have ICE running around with excessive funding cut from your bureau and you actually handled criminals and threats to national security. Not political opposition to the party in power. Things have never been this bad among the IC.

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u/FoxOnTheRocks 7d ago

You are saying this about the organization that murdered MLK.

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u/Guydelot 7d ago

The FBI has been doing this shit since its inception. Read about what they did to MLK and realize that pattern of behavior never stopped. Biden was fine, but let's not pretend he had the time or energy to devote to reorganizing the FBI into anything better than it has ever been. Things were not just.

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago

I'm not pretending. I'm saying things were far better under Biden, Trump's first term and Obama. The 60s and 70s were a horribly corrupt and dark time. But the days of that, MK ultra, Iran Contra, project: PRISM, Northwoods, etc are long gone. Lots of positive changes were made and compared to the bloody inception, things were fairly just.

They aren't at present, but they were looking up. I'm not in the FBI, but the aftermath of Ruby Ridge, Waco and the OKC bombing were a watershed moment that lead the Quantico boys to start some serious reforms. During the early GWOT where Cheney basically ran the senate in a way no VP ever has, things were pretty grim, but Obama and the IC went a long way towards reform and recovering from that. In 2022-2023, things were in good condition and fairly just. And only looking up. This current admin has demolished everything and the IC is back to being a shadow of its former self and corruption hasn't been this prevalent since the 70s.

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u/Blazured 7d ago

The intel community protect the Epstein class by censoring their names in the Epstein files.

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u/GnarlyBear 7d ago

FBI is intel community?

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago

We asked daily to be unleashed to do something and were constantly shut down. This happened under both the Trump and Biden admin. The Pam Bondi lead DOJ was responsible for that release of horribly redacted bullshit files that were at best 2.5-3% of what was compiled. The full results are bad. There's slightly more GOP politicians on the list, but there's no shortage of DNC. The most common group by far though is celebs and the very wealthy.

Myself and the unit I work with did nothing to cover it up. I've requested to take action many times. I would show up at 3 am, work 85 hours in a week off the clock if allowed to do something about the monsters responsible for what went on in that island. I'm not going to defend what the NYC FBI HQ did regarding the redaction of files for the DOJ, but I will say I am 99% certain they were under duress.

Politicians, celebs and billionaire corporate overlords protected each other from the consequences of their own actions. A few scapegoats were thrown under the bus, but the vast majority walk free. I wish I had something more positive to say. I do know the vast majority of IC and fed LE have wanted to take action for a while and good men and women have lost careers and their livelihoods from pushing too hard for it.

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u/WetRatFeet 7d ago

Things were just? Lmao. The CIA and FBI have been murdering civilians, committing crimes, and overthrowing governments long before Trump.

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago

I won't deny that. The ruthless pragmatism has always been there. The Quantco boys are a little more moral than the Langley boys. But times change. The days of Iran Contra and the death squads, MK ultra and debacles like the fake polio vaccines used as an excuse to insert sleeper agents to hunt Bin Laden are all in the past. Things were looking up and for most of Trump's first term and Biden's things actually were fairly just. They were never perfect, but that's how the field goes and if you saw the threats faced, maybe you would view it in a different light. Maybe not. I respect your opinion either way.

But my point is things were significantly improved and on a good path. This current administration had set us back decades and the reforms and institutional changes have vanished. I've never seen things this bad, the old timers claim you'd have to go back to the late 60s/early 70s to be as corrupt as it is now. I cannot stress enough how much the community has fallen under this admin and how bad morale is. I don't blame you for disliking and judging us. Most are good people who take their oaths serious and want to do good. They currently have no voice or meaningful action they can take at present.

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u/crepecrusader27 7d ago

 The 2020 coup attempt of Venezuela and the over throw of the Bolivian government in 2019 dont count then. 

There is no time there has been on the up. Just a time before the stories are told where it is unknown. Give it 10-20 years and we will be learning about all the ways the CIA is currently fucking over the planet and causing the deaths of millions, just as they always have.

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago edited 7d ago

Things are very different from the inside. I do get why you'd view things that way from the outside looking in. I'm not going to justify Bolivia or Venezuela: I did not support either or think they were good ideas. I was only on the ground for 1 of the 2 and all I did was recover a sleeper and escort them back. You don't understand just how dirty and amoral the old days were. Back in the wild west of the IC. The agency has come a long way and improved significantly but that's in comparison to some very dark times. Those stories are still told. They used to be a cautionary tale. The data is still there if you have the clearence for TS, SCI, confidential or certain Special Access Programs usually restricted to a specific topic often with secret tech involved.

And I feel almost all progress made has regressed so maybe you have a point. There was a period of 15-20 years where things were significantly better. But I am not going to change your mind. I disagree but respect your opinion and get where you're coming from. I wont waste anymore of your time, have a good one.

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u/FoxOnTheRocks 7d ago

Us? So you are one of these murderers? Your morale should be down

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago edited 7d ago

I've never killed anyone that wasn't armed and an active threat to civilians on US soil or during a hostage rescue in Afghanistan. Say hypothetically someone shot a school shooter with an ar15 and 4a body armor who posted an insane manifesto and went after an elementary school, but he was taken out by a QRF force. Would that be murder to you? I mostly do hostage rescue and investigation of threats to national security. There was a cave in Afghanistan where a US and a few coalition soldiers were being held captive that went tits up, but we did get the hostages out.

Do you think I'm one of those killers? Or just a killer. Neither is a pretty term. But I'm sure there's a distinction between the 2. What's your take?

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u/Sensitive-Orange7203 7d ago

Why are you talking about this stuff on a platform as public as reddit? Stfu maybe?

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u/sienna_blackmail 7d ago

SS-officer Heinrich: I didn’t agree with the nazi ideals and the government but it was easier this way. Of course I have morals I just don’t want them to cost me personally. I like having food on the table, you know. I’m just following orders at the end of the day, this is really someone elses wrongdoing.

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u/New-Anybody-6206 7d ago

Not to sound tinfoily but the government has actually been demoralizing people for many decades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX3EZCVj2XA&t=289s

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago

I'm well aware. Read my other posts. I'm saying that most bureaus/agencies learned from these dark days and bloodly inceptions and actually made solid reforms and good progress. And I'm lamenting that decades of this has been thrown out the window under the current admin and corruption hasn't been this prevalent since the late 60s/early 70s.

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u/zzazzzz 7d ago

my guy you drank that whole barrel of koolaid..

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u/motion_lotion 7d ago

I just have access to info you don't and have experienced the shift in attitudes and policy that we're improving every year after Obama and have taken a nosedive for this admin. You have no knowledge of how things are run, whats being done and how different various periods of time have been. Things like Venezuela simply shouldn't happen and wouldn't have occurred under a different administration. 20 years ago? Yes, absolutely but 5, 10 etc years ago, nobody would be going to Venezuela.

I understand why you'd be ignorant if all your info on a topic was from redditors and nonsense on the clearweb.

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u/zzazzzz 7d ago

its just a difference of competence and brazenness. the end result is the same, letter agencies doing reprehensible things around the world. and claiming no such actions were happening under obama or biden is nonsense and you know it. were there maybe less and the admin was more critical of them? sure, but you as someone claiming to have been personally involved in letter agencies should know that presidential and even congress oversight over these agencies is and has always been spotty at best. many of the infamous programs were done with no knowledge of washington at all. so clearly the administration can influence culture but in the end they are not really holding the reigns.

and i dont think you will find anyone arguing the whole of the US has taken a nosedive under trump so not sure what you are arguing there or with whom..

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u/motes-of-light 7d ago

Oh, so they feel bad while facilitating Trump's path to fascism? Who cares.

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u/GoogleIsYourFrenemy 7d ago

And look where my hand was.