Perhaps they chose not to because the current definition of computer clearly covers phones. Which is why this is making headlines.
A small percentage of people would use the word 'computer' to describe a smartphone, let along a featurephone.
Imagine you ask a random person one of these questions:
A) Do you own a computer that has a touch-screen?
B) The computer you use most - how big is it?
C) Do you have a computer that can make a phone call to a landline number?
If the most common answers are:
A) Yes
B) In the range 4" - 7"
C) Yes
Then I would agree that the definition of 'computer' includes smartphones. If it includes smartphones, it might also include featurephones.
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/16/apple-shares-new-ipad-p...
> The law does not define a computer, but defines data storage devices as a “thing containing, or designed to contain, data for use by a computer”.
Regardless of whether the phone is a computer, how could it be argued that the data on the phone is not for use by a computer?
Do people commonly still use their phones to hold or transfer files for use on a computer? I figured that use case must be well and truly dead by now.
What about a book with a 2D barcode on the back?
What about a price sticker that goes on a banana, that can be scanned by a cash register? Is that sticker a 'data storage device'?
Back in the 1980s, some magazines had a scannable page of barcode-like print that were programs to load into your computer (I think it was for the Mac, using a handheld scanner). It didn't work as well as hoped, and didn't last long.
Some magazines also came with small plastic floppy records, that if you knew what you were doing, you could load programs from as audio (just like from a cassette tape). From what I understand, these were more common in the UK and Europe than in the United States.
Then you have things like punch cards and punched paper tape (and the plastic variants).
Where do you draw the line?