this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
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This is fucking stupid. If I delete something on my phone while I'm on vacation am I going to prison because the border patrol might have wanted to look at it?
That's not really how the law works. You're not making a comparable analogy. You sitting at home or in a hotel room is legally not remotely the same as when you're being actively searched by a federal agent.
This is more like if the a police officer is about to do a pat-down search of someone, and they reach into their pocket, grab something, and rapidly swallow it.
You can destroy your property in normal circumstances whenever you please. If you delete a file in the privacy of your own home, odds are you're not doing so for the purposes of evading law enforcement. However, if you do it literally seconds before law enforcement is about to get a hold of it, it's pretty unambiguous that you're trying to destroy evidence.
That's the crucial difference here legally. Plausible deniability does not exist when you're destroying something because a police search is imminent.
Or maybe you just don't want some cop to see your dick pics. If they had anything on this dude they wouldn't have needed to go through his phone.
I am explaining how the law works and the assumptions behind it. The law assumes that if you were embarrassed about your dick pics, that you would delete those before the officer is right about to search you.
The laws assumptions are bullshit.
This guy has no fucking idea how the law works. Destruction of evidence requires a primary crime, the one you're destroying the evidence for. There is no crime, therefore no destruction of evidence. Only an incompetent or corrupt judge would let this even go to trial.
Like just about every judge appointed by Trump.
Yep. Backup and wipe before you get to the airport.
Should have been born a child fucking billionaire if you don’t want to be sentenced to prison for 30 years.
I always forget that "choose better parents" one weird trick. ;-)
It's like pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. So obvious. Just because it is impossible to do is no excuse.
What color are you and how far left are your politics?
It’s bullshit but with the current laws. Back up your phone before you head home wipe it before going through border control, and restore your backup when you get home.
That's what I do but evidently that pisses them off
"It's SOP for my business. The risk of phones getting lost or stolen at or near airports is high."
This is great advice thank you
Their mood isn't your responsibility. Carrying a blank phone is perfectly legal.
~~isn't~~ shouldn't be*
Their mood is a major determining factor in their target's ability to stay out of prison.
Due process is dead.
Nah, they just lube up the rubber gloves and fist you, checking in case there's a micro SD stashed up there. You should still make your flight if you relax.
And thats why you dont travel to countries with ropey regimes
We don’t need hyperbole here …. If authorities have a legal reason to search and you interfere with that, destruction of evidence is a crime. Delete all you want …. Right up until authorities claim the legal reason to search. Usually that takes a warrant: investigators must convince a judge there is a good reason
This also includes “when entering the country”. It always has. There’s nothing new here. There are so many things the current administration does to violate rights and due process, but this isn’t one of them.
The slippery slope here is “or within 100 miles”, but that wasn’t a factor here either
Have to disagree with that one. Simply entering a country is not justification for searching someones phone. I don't care what the law says. People have a right to privacy.
That's how it should be. But that's not what the law says.
I’m not saying I agree with it, just that it’s always been so
You literally said they are not violating rights by doing this.
He’s saying that right was taken away by George W Bush.
Governments cannot take rights away. They can only infringe upon them. They are rights. Not privileges.
Then clearly you’re talking about deontological rights and they’re talking about legal rights and both wasting your breath
That should have been obvious by the fact that I said I don't care about the laws.
Not since 2001 they don’t.
They do, just because the government says otherwise doesn't make it true.
Yes, it does. Thats what governance means.
as far as I understand, they were not there to serve a warrant. he was crossing a border and the feds are claiming that the 4th amendment doesn't apply because he hadn't yet crossed into America.
border patrol was essentially using a loophole to preemptively collect potential evidence (they'll figure out what to charge him with after they see his phone contents). he's a political activist against a cop city, they were obviously trying to do him dirty.
they were not serving a search warrant. they were abusing what should be an illegal search at the border in order to silence those who speak out against govt overreach.
So the important takeaway is to delete your phone before customs. Presumably you have an encrypted backup you can restore without too much effort
Finally a sensible reply. Quite a few NAZI bootlickers here. They’re the first the sign up it seems.
In addition, the law that he's charged with relates to knowingly destroying property that the police have a warrant to sieze.
There is no precedent of it being applied to border searches where they may not even have reasonable suspicion of a crime and can stop people for questioning on a whim.
The State has absolutely no claim over your personal property at that point and destroying property that the police hope and dream of siezing isn't the same as destroying property where they've demonstrated probable cause to a judge.
This argument from the border patrol that you can be arrested for destroying data that is in your possession without ever been given due process and 4th amendment protections isn't supported by precedence.
These fucking conservatives crawl out of the woodwork like cockroaches anytime the government does something heinous and use their piss poor understanding of EVERYTHING to try to justify the heinous actions. It happens every time, and I wish just once to see one of them use real and relevant facts, just so I can pretend that these people live in reality for just one second.
Hasn't happened yet though.
Everything is a conspiracy theory when you don’t understand how anything works.
If he wasnt in the US how can the US claim he violated a US law?
Are we reading the same article?
The US claims jurisdiction over its citizens wherever they are.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it means you can be prosecuted in the US for stuff like going to Thailand and sexually abusing children there.
So the law applies, but protection under the law does not.
Isn't all law essentially derived from powers granted by the constitution?
If the powers granted by it to enforce a law are applicable when not within the US then then it very reasonably ought to apply to any and all amendments.
But, reason is on the extinction list with the magafascists. (And all LEO)
Good to know thanks