Busting the Myths Associated with Mobile Device Discovery

Busting the Myths Associated with Mobile Device Discovery

Busting the Legends Related with Cell phone Disclosure Forensic Discovery Educational Partner eDiscovery Today just released its 2022 State of the Industry Report on eDiscovery trends, which is summarized here and includes instructions for downloading a free copy. One of those patterns connected with cell phone disclosure, so we figured we would examine the outcome and bust a couple of legends in regards to confusions related with the revelation of cell phones. Mobile Device Discovery Results from the 2022 State of the Industry Report The survey results of 281 professionals in the legal industry, broken down by corporate, law firm, service/software provider, and consulting respondents, are included in the report, as are observations from 29 key industry thought leaders about these trends, including Trent Walton, founder and CEO of Forensic Discovery. The survey asked respondents, “What percentage of cases involve discovery of data from mobile devices?” as one of those trends related to mobile device discovery. The overall responses to that question are as follows: 3.6% of the cases involve mobile device data. More than half of the cases involve data from mobile devices: 23.5 percent 19.2 percent involve data from mobile devices, or 50 percent. Data from mobile devices are involved in some cases (between 20% and 50%): 30% Only 18.1% of cases involve data from mobile devices (less than 20%). 5.3% of cases involve mobile device data. This indicates that less than half of respondents (53.6%) and less than a quarter (23.4%) of respondents have mobile device data less than 20% of the time, respectively. Wow. Legends In regards to Cell phone Revelation It appears that some members of the legal profession may believe certain misconceptions regarding the discovery of mobile device data, as only half of cases involve data from mobile devices. Therefore, let’s talk about four of those myths in this context: As we discussed in October’s You Need to Be Aware of the Threats to Your Mobile Device, 68.1 percent of all website visits worldwide will come from mobile devices in 2020, up from 63.3 percent in 2019. Only 29% of desktop website visits occurred. Mobile devices are definitely being used more frequently than traditional desktop and laptop computers, at least when it comes to visiting websites. Workplaces don’t use mobile devices: Really? Examine the text message log on your Android or iPhone. Do you have any work-related texts in the log with coworkers? You are the one exception if you don’t. When colleagues at work do not respond to email, you can communicate with them through text messages. Even a text message asking, “Hello, did you read my email?” could be identified. Still don’t trust us? Think Mobile Devices Aren’t Important During Discovery? Here’s an example. This case demonstrates why they are, in which the defendant’s mobile device data was crucial, and sanctions were imposed for failing to properly preserve that data.