336

University Rescinds Job Offer to Activist Who Allegedly Wiped Phone Before DHS Could Search It (www.404media.co)

submitted 13 hours ago by tonytins@pawb.social to c/news@lemmy.world

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Georgia State University has rescinded a job offer given to a high profile activist who is currently fighting a case in which he allegedly wiped a security-focused Android phone before Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could search it. The case, which 404 Media first covered and has now received widespread and national attention, has important ramifications for privacy and when someone can still be charged with an offense even if authorities don’t have suspicion of any specific crime.

Earlier this month, activist Samuel Tunick and a group of supporters delivered a “demand letter” to the university. That letter, which Tunick shared with 404 Media, says he explained to the university he was facing a pending charge, which he describes as “an instance of textbook political repression, and a high profile civil liberties case.”

While delivering the letter, supporters held signs saying, “GSU sides with Trump,” and “Digital Privacy Under Attack!”

Archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/AcLnw

top 29 comments

sorted by: hot top new old

[-] bobbyfiend@retrolemmy.com 13 points 4 hours ago

For those who aren't involved in university politics, it looks from the article like this happened:

The department and its chair/head, the people who would work with him, were fine with him as a colleague.
The university president did a heavy-handed top-down move to ban him

Almost any time you see "University Does X" in a headline, replace "university" with the name of the president. College presidents and their provosts, various VPs, Deans, etc. are incredibly Trumpy in behavior. They think of themselves as liberals because they were often faculty working in liberal departments. However, once they put on the suit and start throwing around business jargon they almost all begin doing exactly the things to their universities that MAGA does to the nation, often in the same ways.

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 119 points 12 hours ago

Coward university siding with fascists.

Because fascists are known to be good for centers of education.

[-] Seleni@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. -Winston Churchill

[-] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Universities will always side with whoever has more money. They will act like students matter, but students and faculty are just annoying inconveniences. Their administration must grow to justify itself.

[-] Bakkoda@lemmy.world -2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

~~Tortious interference?~~

I guess there's no real case for that

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.today 56 points 11 hours ago

Conservatism is cancer. Conservatives need to be completely redacted or they will kill us all.

[-] el_twitto@lemmy.zip 27 points 10 hours ago

Fuck Georgia State and fuck state of Georgia, too.

[-] DeepRoots@lemmy.world 38 points 12 hours ago

Remember folks, have your wipe pin be close enough to audibly sound like your unlock pin, refuse to write it down. And freak out when it gets wiped.

[-] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 18 points 9 hours ago

I was thinking.

You could put the wipe pin on the back of your phone "because you often forget your pin".

If it's entered without your consent... Well it was without your consent 🤷‍♂️

[-] lando55@lemmy.zip 7 points 7 hours ago

Would the LEO that wiped your phone go to jail for destroying evidence

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

You do realize that you will be explaining this to a judge/jury after spending tons of money on lawyers or, more likely, they will Aaron Swartz you and you will take a plea deal to only serve some time in jail? Or do you think the TSA will just let you go?

[-] femtek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 8 hours ago

There is talk about having the option for the dures pin lead to a separate image.

[-] Sanguine@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 hours ago

The current correct way to set up those profiles is to have a default one that looks lived in but contains nothing you wouldn't mind explaining.

Then you create a burner profile that you simply delete if the water is too hot. This is the profile you use 90% of the time.

This way your phone looks normal when seized because the default profile still has your stuff in it (banking apps, dating apps, a few games, whatever).

[-] femtek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 7 hours ago

I just have a couple apps that can be deleted if I'm flying and then redownload when safe. This one included.

[-] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 2 points 8 hours ago

I'm just going to use a flip phone that can hotspot.

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 13 points 11 hours ago

That's just another fantasy scenario which will in no way protect you from being charged. It may or may not save you from jail but you will still lose time, money and job offers.

The only way to do in a situation like this is to fully comply. So:

if you only have to protect your data store it in the cloud and simply uninstall cloud client before going through security
if you have to protect chats, contacts, browsing history etc. split your communications between two phones. Make sure the dummy phone is actually used (has apps, calls history, chat history, browsing history, pictures). Keep all sensitive communication on one phone and never take it through security

Unlock and show your phone. Let them scan it. Make sure it looks legit but has no sensitive info. All other games will get you in trouble.

[-] GalacticRobot@lemmy.world 7 points 9 hours ago

That's exactly it. Wiping 'evidence' in front of law enforcement means instant jail. In certain areas of the world it's far worse punishment. I have a feeling a lot of people here have never visited Russia, even in the most 'friendly' of times.

[-] Tiral@lemmy.world 9 points 10 hours ago

I'm good, they can put me in jail and take over my $750,000/yr dialysis bill.

[-] ernest314@lemmy.zip 5 points 7 hours ago

if what ICE does is any indication, they'll just put you in jail, not deal with any medical issues, and you die

[-] LuceVendemiaire@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 hours ago

like they're not gonna just plant evidence

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 14 points 9 hours ago

ICE shot a guy in the middle of the street while being filmed from 5 different angles and no one was even charged. If they are targeting you specifically you're fucked and no amount of fake PINs and acting will save you. If they are not targeting you the best thing you can do is not to draw attention.

[-] jumperalex@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago

What of instead you finger print erased it? Your pin is the real unlock. And it always asks for the fingprint first but you have to press elsewhere to switch to pin mode.

Also it takes three fingerprint attempts, which look like they fail, to read, and on the third one the wipe happens.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

I’m trying to decide which numbers sound alike. I guess you can get around that with alphabetical passcodes and just “mix up” an M and N

[-] Ribbons@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 11 hours ago

Sixty/sixteen, ninety/ninteen perhaps.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Ah good idea

[-] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 3 points 12 hours ago

"nine" and "five" could be easy to mix up.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 15 points 10 hours ago

Who cares about the Fourth Amendment, I guess?

[-] khannie@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago

Is that the unreasonable search one? Foreigner asking

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

Yes. Full text:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.[2]

this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2026

336 points (99.7% liked)

News

39217 readers

3152 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.

Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.

7. No duplicate posts.

If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.

All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

JonsJava@lemmy.world

gedaliyah@lemmy.world

little_cow@lemmy.world