Camera phones are all the rage in the US, Europe, and Japan. Combining a low- to medium-quality digital camera with a data capable cell phone, camera phones can snap a quick color photo and save it to an online vault, or message or e-mail it to another person. “Oh NO!” says Joe Schmoe, privacy advocate. “The ability to press a button, capture an image, and be able to send that image just opens up a plethora of horrifying situations. Just think: You could be in Disney World, minding your own business, and some random person could take your picture without you knowing and send it to another person, whom you don’t even know! Think of the privacy issues! I have a right to get permission before ANYONE takes my picture… even if it’s just my blurry hand in the corner. I mean… they have sick websites where people with hand fetishes look and pictures of hands. People could be fantasizing about my blurry hands, and the website could be making money off them! What’s worse, the quality is so poor on these cameras, that a hand that looks similar to mine could be pictured on the internet, and people might think it is my hand! I would feel so used!”
Alright, feel free to roam about the cabin… I’ve turned off the sarcasm sign. I just don’t get what all this fuss abouut camera phones is about. We have cameras… we have the internet. The only difference between a regular camera plus a computer and a camera phone is instant or nearly instant results. And what does that change about privacy? Is it worse to be instantly captured and transmitted? Isn’t it just as bad if the person goes home after a day at the amusement park and flips through their pictures and says to themself “Hey look at that random chick. Wow… she must be burned that I took her picture!” Get over it. This is just a bunch of old people angry that technology lets people do things quickly and quietly. The act of taking voyeuristic photots is the crime, not possession of the device or the taking of non-exploitative photots.
Yahoo! News Story: Taking Aim at Cellphone Snapshots
Yahoo! News Story: Camera Phone Bans Seen as Aiding Privacy
Las Vegas SUN Story: YMCAs in Nevada, Nationally, Ponder Cell Phone Ban
Digital Camera says
Disposable Digital Camera– Review all digicam models