UK Group Wants Mandatory Flash For Phone Cams

meganthom writes "The BBC is carrying a story about some privacy groups' concerns about the new camera phones. Privacy International, a London-based group, is asking that all phones flash when they are being used to take a photograph. In Korea, the government would like phones to make a loud sound when taking a picture. Also mentioned, several companies/labs do not allow employees to have photo phones on site. Anyone remember that Dilbert?"

Comments

Re:Shrug

[Jameth]

When you look at them, it is not apparent they are holding a camera, so this is more on par with a concealed camera of some sort.

(Note: I think the initiative is stupid and I disagree with the privacy advocates in this case. I'm just trying to help explain the situation.)

Re:Shrug

[adam31]

"Oops, excuse me ma'am. I dropped my phone..."

doesn't work nearly as well for cameras.

trust me.

Nokia

[josecanuc]

Think about no-camera-phone policies in the R&D department of Nokia...

I once was an intern at a Nokia R&D center and that was a policy. At the time I was there, the "hot new" project was a camera-phone. :-)

I want phones without cameras!

[onyxruby]

I recently had to replace my cell phone with another as the old unit was wearing out. I went into the Verizon store and explained that I needed a phone without a camera.

They looked at me like I was on crack. I was shown the prepaid phones with an insinuation that I must be too cheap to afford the camera phones. I then had to explain that I was already a customer and had no interest in prepaid.

They could not get past this point. After 20 minutes I finally got them to show me the phones they had that met my requirements. Tri-mode and no camera. They had 3 in the entire store left (large store btw) that met these requirements. One of these was a close out model that wasn't being made anymore.

I tried explaining to them that I work in areas that a camera is NOT allowed in. I explained that turning the camera off wasn't going to cut it on a government or banking contract. They just didn't get it.

I have to have a phone for my work. I can't have a camera, and I know I am far from alone.

Verizon, Can you hear me now?

Re:I want phones without cameras!

[itsthebin]

the original nokia n-gage symbian OS , bluetooth and GPRS , hardware MP3 and FM radio in stereo , and takes up to a 1gig MMC. and * no shite camera for taking blurry pictures *

Re:Shrug

[nchip]

Iriver ifP-1095 - mp3/ogg player and a digital camera on a usb keychain. Please don't ask why it has a camera. I have absolutely no idea.

Manufacturers already follow rules

[mishmash]

Motorola flip phones sold in the UK don't have the capibility to take a photo while they are closed. There is a shutter button on the outside to enable this but I believe it is disabled by software in the UK following concerns such as those raised in the article.