There is an option on the iPhone, under password settings, which you can set to have your phone automatically delete all your data if the password is entered incorrectly 10 times in a row.

This option frightens me.  It frightens me enough that no amount of security/privacy paranoia can convince me to turn it on, but it also frightens me that it even exists.

What if it accidentally gets turned on?  A mere 40 button pushes later, all my data will be gone.  Forever.

Well, until I resync with my computer, at which point I’ll get to restore my latest backup.

But still.  It’s scary.  Just in principle, if not in actual practice.  And being frightening in principle is much worse.