10 Times Software Got Users In Trouble With The US Government

Every once in a while, software manages to land users in hot water. Recently, and without precedent, the case of Sam Tunick, an activist linked to the resistance against “Cop City”, a training center in Atlanta. While detained by US law enforcement, he wiped his phone with the Android alternative GrapheneOS’ duress security feature, which completely erases the phone and prevents its recovery. This is legally unprecedented, and the U.S. government is now using a federal law that prohibits the destruction of property to prevent its seizure as part of an investigation into core operating system functionality. The case is ongoing, but this isn’t the first time the government has had a problem with how people use software.

Parallels can be drawn between the government’s stance on GrapheneOS and the massive number of hacking and cybersecurity attacks targeting businesses and their user bases in general, which have increased significantly in recent years. Cody Kretsinger was sent to prison for a year for hacking Sony Pictures in 2011. On his eponymous website, Kretsinger described it as a “period of arrogance, recklessness, and consequences,” during which swaths of passwords and confidential information were exposed using SQL injection.

SQL injections are among the most common cyberattacks. It is a method of manipulating database entries and forcing it to execute malicious commands. Hackers can use SQL injection to dump the database or falsify information. In 2007 and 2009, the Turkish hacker collective “m0sted” hacked the servers of the American army and escaped without success.

US government agencies have messed up their operations in the world of cybersecurity in strange ways. In 2019, two pentesters, IT professionals who test for vulnerabilities in a variety of situations, were arrested for conducting a “red team” exercise within the Iowa Judiciary. What Branch didn’t know was that she had been allowed to violate the system and was awarded $600,000 in January 2026 for defamation and wrongful arrest.

The security of users’ devices has been under attack by the U.S. government in general, especially in 2025. As reported by the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the STOP CSAM Act threatens to introduce a backdoor into encrypted messaging services, like WhatsApp and Signal, so that information sent is certified as not containing child sexual exploitation content. This measure is currently awaiting legislation. The US government has clashed with Apple in the past over encryption.

In 2016, the FBI wanted Apple to provide software to decrypt phones and break encryption provided by apps and software. He also requested the ability to unlock a phone held as evidence of a crime, as the iPhone in question would erase all data after 10 failed unlocks. The case was dropped after the bureau hacked the phone without Apple’s help (it contained no information about the case).

Private messaging apps have also been used to collect sensitive information. In 2021, the FBI and the Australian government joined forces to lure criminals with a so-called private messaging app, “ANOM.” In reality, it was a way for the FBI to spy on active crimes and led to over 800 arrests.

The US government has also taken action against websites and web hosting providers facilitating illegal activities. When a torrent search engine was seized in 2010, the owner told TorrentFreak: “My domain was seized without any prior complaint or notice from a court! » In 2010 alone, the government closed 82 domains linked to piracy. In 2015, Rocky P. Ouprasith was sentenced to 36 months in prison for running the “second largest” music piracy site. More recently, deepfake AI porn hosts have been hit by seizures, with 12 sites taken offline.

The federal government famously used the more illegal side of the deep web, often nicknamed the “Dark Web,” to track down and arrest the owner of the illegal drug sales site Silk Road. Under the name “Dread Pirate Roberts,” after the fantasy film “The Princess Bride,” Ross Ulbricht used deep web encryption provided by the Tor network to mask his location. Ulbricht was arrested at a San Francisco library, where two FBI agents distracted him while a couple argued, and a third took the laptop. Although he was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the drug website and other crimes uncovered through the messages taken from the laptop, Donald Trump pardoned Ulbricht in 2025.

There are many other cases, and with artificial intelligence now readily available, it is likely that the government will continue to intervene – if orders are given, of course. The president recently declared that opponents of the rampant development of AI were “traitors.”