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Comment by hamburglar | Hacker News Reader

> Well, once you have been told to unlock the device, you're already in a legally binding process

In none of my scenarios am I describing actions to be taken after you have been told to unlock the phone. I’m talking about before you ever approach the border. There is no functional difference between wiping a key which encrypts the entire device (but leaving the encrypted data in place) vs wiping the entire device, from a security point of view, except one requires twiddling fewer bits to restore the data.

My point is that the law is unable to see that equivalence, but it is also unable to compel a different result. If choice A and B are identical for security purposes but the government can technically prosecute A but not B, all they have accomplished is forcing people to choose B.

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The Aftermath: Because the encryption keys are already instantly nuked at the hardware level, the phone boots directly into the Google Pixel recovery or factory-fresh setup screen.

It's exceptionally apparent you've caused destructive behaviour, after the phone is in evidence.

None of the other scenarios, show your duress pin factory resetting the device, then dropping into a setup screen, after the border agent confiscated it. So much of tbe law is intent, coupled with knowledge of your situation.

There's nothing new here really. Throw a diary into the fireplace at home? Fine! Travel with a blank diary? Fine!

Grqb it from a border guard and and rip it up? Trouble.

It's not about the state of the device at the border. It's intent to change the state after confiscation.

That's not the scenario I'm talking about at all. I'm considering entering the duress code before you approach the border and before the border guard gets anywhere near it, on the assumption that you have a byte perfect backup which is trivial to restore somewhere in the cloud.

Percisely. To know the implications of your theoretical act, you must know +why+ the act caused issue in this story's case.

In all your scenarios, you would not be charged with this crime. They may seize the device, but not charge you.

Well I certainly hope. I have my suspicions that if you pre-wiped your key but left the data “intact” but unusable, you open yourself to the law declaring that as somehow withholding evidence. Actually wiping the entire phone and restoring is certainly the safest in terms of how others may interpret it.

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