The Phone Has Been Opened Without a Case Number

Transcript Excerpt

CHAIR: Can you describe the nature of the unlock?

WITNESS: I picked up the phone. I unlocked it. I had a reason when I picked it up.

CHAIR: And the reason?

WITNESS: It had gone. By the time the screen was on, I couldn't remember what it was.

CHAIR: So you put the phone down.

WITNESS: I checked the weather first.

CHAIR: Had the weather changed?

WITNESS: Not significantly.

CHAIR: And then?

WITNESS: I put it down. Then I picked it up again, because I thought I remembered what the reason was.

CHAIR: Had you?

WITNESS: No. I had remembered a different reason.

Under the governing rule, a phone state may not be trusted until the user has personally rechecked it.

The check is not about distrust of the phone. The phone is functioning correctly. The check is about the small uncertainty that remains after the phone has already answered the question, which is the uncertainty that a second look might resolve into something other than what the first look showed.

It never does. The check confirms what was already known. The check is then repeated for battery level, notification count, and the time, which the user has already seen on the lock screen and has chosen not to trust.

CHAIR: Is the phone the problem?

WITNESS: The phone is fine.

CHAIR: Hearing adjourned.