Summary
- Samuel Tunick aims to demonstrate that the government lacks ownership over personal data, according to a recent interview.
- He discovered he was labeled a suspected terrorist by federal authorities during legal proceedings.
- Tunick faces a potential five-year sentence related to a GrapheneOS feature that erased data from his phone during a border inspection in January 2025.
Samuel Tunick, a user of GrapheneOS, is facing charges of obstruction due to his use of the operating system's duress password feature. He hopes his legal defense will clarify the extent of government authority over personal data.
In an interview with the New York Times, Tunick stated, “I just hope to send the message that the government doesn’t own our data.” He emphasized that in a democratic society, it is crucial to safeguard our right to privacy, asserting, “The government doesn’t own our communications, our relationships, as hard as they might try.”
At 30 years old, Tunick is a musician and a geography graduate student at Georgia State University. His troubles began in January 2025 when he returned from the Dominican Republic and was detained by Customs and Border Protection at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He handed over his phone, using a passcode that utilized GrapheneOS's duress feature, which resulted in the data being wiped. This led to obstruction charges against him.
During the legal process, it was revealed that Tunick had been placed on a government watch list. He expressed his surprise and disappointment at this revelation, comparing his situation to other individuals charged with domestic terrorism in Georgia, including around 40 protesters against a police training facility and several music festival participants.
Tunick connected his case to a presidential memorandum, NSPM-7, issued last September, which expanded the definition of domestic terrorism. He described this as a "direct attack on our First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly."
Concerns Over Surveillance
Recognizing the extent of government surveillance on activists, Tunick stated he chose to install GrapheneOS based on a commitment to privacy. He described the government's attempts to gather information on individuals as "creepy" in light of his prosecution.
The charge he faces carries a potential sentence of up to five years, and he has had to surrender his passport. This means that any travel, including visiting family on the West Coast, requires prior approval from a judge in the Northern District of Georgia.
US Attorney Theodore Hertzberg commented that anyone who destroys data to obstruct a lawful search should be prepared for prosecution. Customs and Border Protection noted that it has the authority to inspect the devices of individuals crossing the border, regardless of their citizenship status, although less than 0.01% of travelers' devices were examined in the previous fiscal year.
Tunick has pleaded not guilty to the charges. GrapheneOS has defended its software as "completely legal" and constitutionally protected, with a ruling on Tunick's motion to suppress evidence not expected until late October.