The Sedona Conference Commentary on Discovery of Mobile Device Data
The Sedona Conference · Post-public-comment version, October 2025 · 2025
Access and status
Cost
Free
Free to read or download at source. No account, no purchase.
Status
Current
Current as at the verification date below. Standards and tools both move — confirm at source before you rely on it.
What it is
A consensus commentary on when mobile device data is within the scope of civil discovery and how to collect and produce it proportionately, covering possession, custody or control over personal devices, targeted versus full extraction, and the form of production for message threads.
Who it is for, and when
This is the most current legal guidance on the collection examiners are asked to perform most often, so read it before scoping a phone collection or arguing about one. Lawyers should read the control and proportionality sections before demanding or resisting device imaging. It is also useful for setting client expectations about what a phone collection actually produces.
What it does not cover
It is not binding and its legal analysis is US civil discovery only, with no coverage of criminal seizure or consent. It is not a technical guide: it does not evaluate extraction tools, address locked or encrypted devices as an engineering problem, or tell you how to validate an extraction. The PDF requires a free Sedona Conference account.
Go to the source
Open at thesedonaconference.org (opens in a new tab)https://thesedonaconference.org/publication/Commentary_on_Discovery_of_Mobile_Device_Data
Details
- Type
- Standard or guidance
- Written for
- Lawyers and courtsWorking examinerLawyers and courts, Working examiner
- Publisher
- The Sedona Conference
- Version verified
- Post-public-comment version, October 2025
- Year
- 2025
- Topics
- ediscovery, evidence-handling, proportionality, preservation, mobile-forensics
- Checked at source
- Standards are revised. Confirm the current revision with the publisher before citing this.
Related entries
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