The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • Business

    Initial jobless claims lowest in about year

  • National

    PULLEN: GOP came unmoored in last decade – it hurt

  • National

    WILLIAMS: Finding gratitude in difficult times

  • Sports

    Leonsis in line to buy Wizards, Verizon

  • National

    3 airlines fined $175,000 for stranding passengers

  • National

    Ky. hanging, ruled a suicide, leaves bloggers at loss for words

  • Business

    Holiday puts low-cost buses into overtime

Monday, July 14, 2003

Camera phones cross moral, legal lines

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Stories

  • Obama expects support for more troops
  • D.C. sports icon, Wizards owner Pollin dies
  • Leonsis in line to buy Wizards, Verizon
  • Medical pot gets social

By

The world has yet to figure out whether camera phones are friends or foes. Mobile telephones that take and transmit digital photos are lauded by fans in love with their novelty and immediacy. Global sales are up by 65 percent this year; about 42 million of us will gab and click on the same device by year's end.

But the intriguing phones also have become a kind of technology non grata.

Some people in Japan are taking secret photos up women's skirts and down into bathroom stalls. Some companies are worried about industrial espionage. Others are using the devices as the source of the latest petty crime: digital shoplifting.

Some canny customers have discovered they can snap quick images from new books, magazines and other materials for review later -- no need to buy. The high-tech pirating has become so vexing in Japan that typical book shops lose an estimated $26,000 a year in sales because of the practice.

The publishers call it "information theft."

Last week, the Japan Magazine Publishers Association went after the phone pirates, distributing 30,000 sternly worded posters to the nation's booksellers to warn browsers to "refrain from recording information with camera-mounted cell phones and other devices." The group has the full support of Japan's Telecommunications Carriers Association.

Meanwhile, camera phones have become unwelcome in gyms, dressing rooms, subways, swimming pools, voting booths and other public spots in the United States and elsewhere after images of unwitting subjects surfaced on the Internet and in the press.

The British Broadcasting Corp., in fact, openly solicits camera-phone photos from those "in the right place at the right time" and publishes an online gallery of the images each Friday. London-based Celebsnappers also solicits phone shots of celebrities, calling the keen-eyed phoners the "snaparazzi."

On a darker note, Scottish police recently broke up a child pornography ring using camera phones to transmit their material.

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
  3. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
  4. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  5. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
More Top Stories »
  1. Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues
  2. Company that repaired Chairman Gray's house lacked license
  3. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  4. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  5. Green energy stimulus growing few jobs

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. The United Socialist States of America
  3. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general
  4. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
  5. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
More Top Stories »
  1. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  2. EDITORIAL: Terrorists use Democratic talking points
  3. EDITORIAL: Kennedy vs. Catholicism
  4. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  5. 'Boutique' patients pay for better access to doctors

Most Commented

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
  3. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  4. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  5. Schumer: Dems will pass health bill alone
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: Terrorists use Democratic talking points
  2. WH: Obama Afghan decision 'within days'
  3. Lobbyists spending big to shape health care debate
  4. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general
  5. The United Socialist States of America

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Playing time vs. Cowboys

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.