A federal case unfolding in Atlanta is asking a question that privacy advocates, cybersecurity researchers, and civil liberties lawyers have long feared would end up in a courtroom: can choosing to run a privacy-focused operating system on your phone be used as evidence that you have something to hide?
The case centres on Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta resident who returned from the Dominican Republic through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on 24 January last year. By the time he walked out of that airport, his phone had wiped itself during a customs search, and federal prosecutors had decided that was a crime.
