You're confusing attacks. What you describe is very useful when there is not threat to your being. You just want the data gone. However, if you are under physi

You're confusing attacks. What you describe is very useful when there is not threat to your being. You just want the data gone. However, if you are under physical threat then this is still useful because 1) you can protect witnesses and others and 2) you can make forwarding this information to remote sources part of the self-destruct. That is, "Sorry, I no longer have the data - the laptop self-destructed. The data and my name and location have been posted to reddit publicly or sent to a list of contacts in six countries" The point is, they want 1) you to stop and 2) to recover the data. You can bargain for your life by setting up the actions taken should this be activated.