Re: More Silliness: Congressman Wants to Ban "Silent" Cell Phone Cameras

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

remember the rule against selling scanner that detect police band,  
well it did not work either  djf



Begin forwarded message:

From: Thomas Shaddack <shaddack () shaddack twibright com>
Date: January 29, 2009 2:15:41 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] More Silliness: Congressman Wants to Ban "Silent"  
Cell Phone Cameras


Import (of a GSM phone) from Europe. Firmware update with a minor
alteration. A piece of a thin enameled wire, on/off beeper switch in the
battery compartment. Just three of the many possible ways.

The "bad guys" will stay unaffected.

The "good guys" will lose the ability to e.g. covertly document police
misconduct.




> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Date: January 29, 2009 12:41:20 PM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: More Silliness: Congressman Wants to Ban "Silent" Cell  
> Phone Cameras
>
>
>    More Silliness: Congressman Wants to Ban "Silent" Cell Phone  
> Cameras
>
>               http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000500.html
>
>
> Greetings.  As if there weren't enough truly important issues to worry
> about, a U.S. Congressman has introduced the Camera Phone Predator
> Alert Act (CPPAA) -- which would require all cell phones to make an
> audible sound when snapping a photo
> ( http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6750825 ).
>
> There's no evidence that illicit "underskirting" photography is a
> significant problem outside of Japan and Korea, and the law would only
> apply to phone cameras, not the vast range of other camera devices
> available, many of which are far smaller and more easily used
> surreptitiously than a cell phone.
>
> And as for the vast number of situations where cell phones are used
> legitimately to take photos where a notification sound would be
> disruptive -- even dangerous -- well, better not to mention those
> since they get in the way of the fantasy on which the CPPAA is
> predicated.
>
> Also, given that many cell phones can now shoot video as well as still
> photos, I wonder if this same Congressman would propose that all video
> camera devices beep constantly when in video record mode -- just like
> trucks backing up?  That'll do wonders for the audio tracks, eh?
>
> Never let the facts and reality get in the way of political
> grandstanding.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Co-Founder, PFIR
>  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, NNSquad
>  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
> Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
>
>
>
>
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