The real question is not just will camera phones be banned? but goes further. Just how much chance is there that the camera and the phone can be separated? Ever, again?

Edited by author 10-10-2004 11:03 AM
I wish I could remember the name of the "Cyberpunk-ish" novel in which this is a peripheral issue. A tale in which old people are no longer afraid to venture forth from their homes, but instead do so at every opportunity, carrying dirt-cheap miniature videocams. There are BIG prizes (and momentary TV show fame) for providing video evidence of crimes - anything from littering to bank robbery - and they want their slice of it. Result, almost everything you do outside of your home is going to be video'ed... because you never know when a crime might be committed. Reaching for your camera when you realise you're seeing a crime means it might be too late. Much easier to just video EVERYTHING, and hope there are a few diamonds amongst the dross.
In the meanwhile, the camera feature of my phone is an amusing gimmick that puts a picture of the usual callers on screen when they call me (including a snapshot of my dog when the call's from my housephone) BUT the thing that puzzles me is the desire for a camera in your phone rather than (say) an MP3 player. Commuters like myself are FAR more likely to cary an IPod and phone than a camera and phone. A solution was presented in Siemens SL42 and SL45, and the rarer-than-Hen's-teeth Sony phone/MP3 player. Thereafter, it's addressed only by housebrick smart phones, like your SPV and my P800. Given their age, SL45's still command a good price on Ebay. Maybe phone makers should study prices on Ebay - where they're set entirely by demand and supply. They might learn what people want, rather than trying to TELL us.

Yes... the question of whether phones will become cameras isn't answered yet.

I think, myself, that cameras will become phones. But the problem is, which is the essential item?

Today, no doubt about it: it's the phone. I'll leave other toys behind, even when going sailing (especially when going sailing!) - but I'll risk taking my phone, just in case.

My camera may make me a little money, but my phone will possibly save my life. Now: will I risk running down the battery on my life-saver, by listening to too many sound tracks?

It remains to be seen!

Edited by author 10-13-2004 08:54 AM
If the government, any government, wanted to ban radio camera use then it could do so at the network level, simply not allowing any phone network to carry pictures. You might then see cameras with acoustic coupler, but there are ways to detect and block that, too. So then we proceed to audio steganography...

It would annoy people who want wireless multimedia and Internet access, but it's do-able. Explain that it's to stop - somehow - terrorists, pediatricians, and denizens of the exciting new world you were recently made aware of, of the upskirt photo. And others who take secret pictures at urinals (I don't know and don't wish to know if this actually happens). The majority will accept it.

While I hear Syria just jailed another journalist who photographed a Kurdish demonstration - not that the Western war against Syria will be fought because of that sort of thing, I don't expect. Or they'd have started years ago, and elsewhere.

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Well, you say so, but you haven't yet quite persuaded me you're right!

:-)

My experience is that Governments always try to ban things. But if they are popular, people carry on doing them. Look at America's tremendously successful "war on drugs" for example.

Or go into many countries where seat belt wearing is compulsory, but the Governments never came up with anything as catchy or convincing as "Clunk-click every trip" to make the populace like it.

In this country, dog-fighting is illegal. Do people still bet on dog-fights? Well, is the bear a Catholic? Do popes shit in the woods? and so on.

The determination of a Government is one thing. The acquiescence of the population is quite another thing.

Do you know that burglary is actually illegal in the UK? Did that stop it?

Nor can Mehtap! I want to say that your site better throughout the World Wide Web :)
Thank you. Keep it.