Mandatory Click Sounds Coming Soon?
This entry was posted on Jan 29 2009
I doubt it, but one representative from New York would like to see it. Pete King, R-N.Y., has introduced a bill that proposes making the annoying click sound a required feature on all camera phones. The ability to switch it off would be disabled. Enter a whole new realm of phone hacks. From the E-Week article:
Designed to protect children and adolescents who “have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone,” the bill requires any camera phone manufactured in the United States to “sound a tone or other sound audible within a reasonable radius of the phone whenever a photograph is taken.”
If it passes, any mobile phone or handset manufactured a year after the bill passes would be required to have a clicking sound. Any silencing option would go the way of the dinosaurs: Extinction.
Yet another micromanaging bill written under the guise of child protection. While I am hardly condoning misconduct against children, I think this bill is way out of line. Will this really prevent crimes from occurring? No. What about digital cameras? Would they be silenced as well? What if I witness a murder and have a clear shot at the perpetrator, but the sound of my camera phone gives me away? What if I’m trying to photograph wildlife? One shot and they’re gone.
I certainly hope this bill is dumped for something more worthwhile. If child protection is really the issue, then silencing camera phones is not going to improve anything. Stiffer penalties for abusers might be a better place to start.
Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (HR 414)
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8 Responses
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I agree full with you Pete!
We are now since 5 days at the Space Coast on a Campground, traveling further South on Saturday, hoping I will have again Wi-Fi connections on the road, so I can blog again and also visit and comment on other blogs.
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Wow, this bill is really thinking out of the box. It wouldn’t bother me either way, but you’re right they could spend their energy on something else more worthwhile.
Rolando´s last blog post: Traveling Builds Character
If a child hears the tell-tale click or other tone, what’s he or she supposed to do about it?
Sounds like another mind-numbingly stupid idea. Do politicians ever think about things, or is every law they come up with a simple knee-jerk reaction?
Seriously. You mentioned several legitimate uses for a camera phone which would be best if the sound were turned off. It’s something that’s only going to end up punishing innocent camera phone users, while doing nothing to stop the actual problem. I mean, if people are intent on getting pictures of children and teens and others in inappropriate levels of undress, aren’t they just going to find a way to disable the sound anyway? Open the phone and disconnect the speaker. Or hack it with software.
dcr´s last blog post: Al Gore’s Thermometer
You know, maybe this bill is really designed to protect the politicians. How many politicians have been, to their embarrassment, been caught on camera phone pictures or video doing or saying things they later tried to deny?
At private events, they may be able to keep people from taking cameras and video cameras in, but it’s a little harder for them to tell people they can’t take their cell phones. Someone gets one in, catches a politician saying or doing something stupid, and it won’t be private anymore.
Is this politician-protection under the guise of child-protection? One has to wonder…
dcr´s last blog post: Al Gore’s Thermometer
FYI: Did you know something’s wrong with the comment links? The CommentLuv links are okay, but if you click on “dcr” or “Rolando”, it takes you to a malformed URL.
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Even if you make the sound mandatory, who says some hackers won’t be able to disable it? I agree, real stupid bill.
Ivy´s last blog post: Samsung Louve: The Omnia with the keyboard
There is absolutely no viable reason a camera phone should be able to silently snap a picture that outweighs the privacy issues camera phones have brought about.
actually, this has been implemented here in Japan (mobile phones only) already. So even if you are just making a self portrait, everyone would look at you.
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