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Comment by rahimnathwani | Hacker News Reader

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rahimnathwani

"the current definition of computer clearly covers phones"

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.

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Apple have a whole advertising campaign based around the idea that an iPad is not a computer

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/16/apple-shares-new-ipad-p...

The article goes on:

> 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?

because the data on the phone is containing or designed to contain data for use by a phone because a phone isn’t a computer...?

I think this kind of comments illustrate a difference in thinking between engineering and law. Engineers need specs, but the law is not a spec in the sense that engineers use it.

So is a piece of paper with a QR code a 'data storage device'?

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'?

I'd argue "yes" to all those examples. Books, especially, have always been "data storage devices"; I don't see why a portion of a book couldn't be by reduction.

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?

my reading of that snippet of text would seem to be that the law was referencing external hard drives, USB drives, etc.

I haven't plugged my phone into a computer in years (apart from very occasionally just to charge it, when away from a wall wart).

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.

Where does dedicated touchscreen VoIP handset fall under this?

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