Phonecam Apocalypse

Europe is not alone in declaring war on the phone cam. Australia has also moved to ban them from the changing rooms of the sports-mad country. The Royal Life Saving Society of Australia says it is concerned about "private parts being shown to all and sundry."

At the corporate skullduggery end of the spectrum are unconfirmed reports that the cams have been banned from assembly lines in the U.S., so as to protect secret processes from, well, all and sundry.

Comments

[007]

Sorry, they'll have to catch me first (if they can.)

I've got a job to do.

[dragoon]

Well, when I got called in for Jury Duty in California recently, the LA City courthouse guards impounded the camera attachment for my cellphone, having recognized it by sight when it went through the metal detector. Someone else, although I don't remember where, mentioned their local courts demanding every phone to be closely inspected for cameras.

One thing that struck me about this:

More and more phones are coming with cameras not as an attachment, but as a built-in component, just like the memo-recording capability of many phones. And videophones capable of low-quality streaming video are on the verge of moving from satellites to local networks and becoming accessible to consumers, not just embedded reporters.

Which means you're going to have a lot more people who are going to be forced to relinquish their phones in various places, even as more people become accustomed to always having the same communication power as a TV station and newspaper, although a insignificant percent of the audience, in a mobile fashion.

[Kevin]

I'm sure this was linked from Reason before - but David Brin posits an interesting future for surveillance in the hands of the people here:

http://www.kithrup.com/brin/akademos.html

Is the future now?

[Anonymous]

It's like guns. It's OK for the government to have an overabundance of them, but YOU shouldn't have them.

[Jim]

Sounds like something that should be dictated by owners of private property. Yes, it makes sense to ban them (or using them) in showers at the gym for the protection of customers. On the other hand, there's been reports of people using them in less human rights oriented societies to document police abuses. In our post 9/11 era of greater government power, this makes sense as a private check on police power. More power to cellphone cams!

[Malver Aaron]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
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DATE: 01/22/2004 12:48:57
Perceptions do not limit reality.