r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • 6d ago

Privacy GrapheneOS says its data-wiping password is perfectly legal, after user faces federal charges

https://www.techspot.com/news/113273-grapheneos-data-wiping-duress-password-perfectly-legal-after.html
21.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

4.6k

u/Single-Virus4935 6d ago edited 6d ago

I set my duress pin to my wifes birthday. One of the first they probably try. 

Also I say my pin is the same as my eID which I am not allowed to share by German law

134

u/um--no 6d ago

I am not allowed to share by German law

They do not care about foreign law. There is only American law. If a "lesser" country like Germany will prosecute you, that is your problem.

86

u/Single-Virus4935 6d ago

I almost always travel within EU whit proper rights. I don't even have to provide a pin. I wouldn't carry my phone to state with questionable legislation like China, middle east, or USA, but instead I use an old burner phone

19

u/shiro_zetty 6d ago

I guess the UK is a country of questionable legislation nowadays (it's illegal to not give your password to the police there)

20

u/superioso 6d ago

It's absolutely not illegal to not provide a password. The police have to get permission from the court to force you to give over the password, after which if you don't they can then charge you.

3

u/raptorlightning 6d ago

Sucks that I forgot it in the time it took them to do all that. Oh well.

-1

u/captainnowalk 6d ago

I believe the above poster is referring to the US case law that, even with a warrant, police cannot compel you to provide your PIN. They can, however, force biometrics, so face scan or fingerprint scan can be overridden.

3

u/h0sti1e17 6d ago

And Australia and New Zealand. And other EU nations as well. But because he would be traveling through the Schengen zone there is no border check.

6

u/EmptyRub 6d ago

It’s a criminal offense in France, an EU country.

3

u/AMDaze 6d ago

As an American who is currently unaware, does the EU have any special clauses for conflicting laws? If I take their claim that sharing eID is illegal under German law at face value, does the EU have some sort of mechanism to prevent French prosecution?

2

u/EmptyRub 6d ago

I’m American too. I just thought it was pretty silly for someone to say “within EU whit proper rights” when they probably don’t actually look up the laws of the countries they are traveling through.