>he probably shouldn't trust either device in the future (possibly more so for the laptop).
Seems risky for the government to put any firmware/hardware implants on those devices. The user is naturally going to be suspicious of it because the government had unrestricted access for days/weeks. So there's a high chance that the user might not even use it or will send it to an expert for analysis. If discovered, it's going to look extra bad for the government because there's no doubt that they did it.
Suspicious, sure, but most users aren’t equipped to do that kind of diagnosis, and many won’t be able to afford new devices, and maybe it will look even worse for the government but I am certain absolutely nothing bad will happen to the people who added the malware.
Seems risky for the government to put any firmware/hardware implants on those devices. The user is naturally going to be suspicious of it because the government had unrestricted access for days/weeks. So there's a high chance that the user might not even use it or will send it to an expert for analysis. If discovered, it's going to look extra bad for the government because there's no doubt that they did it.