Atlanta activist charged with wiping phone before CBP search

Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta-based activist, was arrested and charged with destroying evidence after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit searched his Google Pixel smartphone, 404 Media reports.

The search was conducted by the Tactical Terrorism Response Team, an elite unit of the CBP, on January 25, 2025. Tunick supposedly erased the data of his Pixel smartphone before the CBP officer searched his device.

Although the circumstances of his arrest was unclear, an official indictment states that Tunick allegedly did "knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone." There is no evidence that Tunick committed any crimes beyond this charge.

As of today, Tunick has been released and is awaiting further trial proceedings. He is not allowed to leave the Northern District of Georgia in the meantime.

Privacy Guides cannot confirm if the device had GrapheneOS or a similar operating system installed. GrapheneOS is exclusive to the Google Pixel series, providing features such as a duress pin that allows users to quickly wipe data off their phone in high-risk situations.

Evidence tampering is a crime in most countries. If you are caught erasing data prior to a law enforcement search, you may experience similar charges faced by Tunick. Nonetheless, journalists and activists alike may feel unnerved by this recent development.

If you are a U.S. citizen or resident, many experts suggest your best bet is to not wipe your iPhone or Pixel if you expect an imminent search or arrest. However, by setting a strong password or passphrase, your phone may be more resistant to forensics tools like Cellebrite. It also helps that the 5th Amendment of the Constitution protects you against self-incrimination, allowing you to withhold login information from authorities.

This is most effective if your phone is in a Before-First-Unlock (BFU) state. BFU ensures that the data on your device is fully encrypted and inaccessible because you have not yet unlocked it.

For those who struggle to remember longer passwords, you could also set up biometric authentication like face unlock or fingerprint, and manually restart your phone before a police search. This will disable biometrics entirely. If you use GrapheneOS, it has a setting that allows you to automatically reboot your phone at a designated duration, such as every four hours, bringing your device back to a BFU state.