A U.S. citizen deleted his phone’s data. Now he faces a felony charge.
He gave customs officers what is known as a duress passcode.
From The Times
July 30, 2026

It sounds like something James Bond would use: a gadget that self-destructs if it falls into the wrong hands. But a duress passcode, which erases the contents of a device, can actually be downloaded onto an Android phone.

A hand holds a smartphone with the white logo of the open-source operating system, GrapheneOS, in the center of an otherwise black screen.

Annegret Hilse/Reuters

Now a U.S. citizen is facing charges after giving customs officers his duress code. →

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