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What you need to know about camera cell phones and your right to privacy

September 26, 2005
By:  Bob Whitehead

You're trying on clothes, paying for groceries, changing in your gym locker room -- all public places and all places where you might see someone with a cell phone. But is it a cell phone or is it a camera phone? We're so accustomed to seeing these in public that it's easy not to realize that a regular phone could be invading your right to privacy.

Many people use camera cell phones for their ease and convenience -- why carry around two objects when you can just carry around one? However, there are those who are intent on using this technology to violate individual privacy rights by taking voyeuristic photos with their mobile phones. Bathrooms and similar areas are already protected from video surveillance, but camera phones pose a new threat to these personal privacy rights, as it is very easy to circumvent such rules with these commonplace devices.

What steps are being taken to protect these individual rights? Locker rooms and dressing rooms are starting to forbid mobile phones. In New York, an "unlawful surveillance" law was created to protect individuals from having their picture taken unwittingly for entertainment or sexual purposes.

As a recent Legal Zoom article points out, though, while laws can be made to protect individual privacy rights, how do you know when these rights are being violated? It's up to lawmakers to require mobile phone cameras to be less discreet, to use flashes or noises like other cameras. After all, if you don't notice your privacy being invaded, how will you be able to report it?

About the Author
Bob Whitehead is a successful freelance writer and contributor to Video-Surveillance-Guide.com.  Your definitive guide to video surveillance equipment, CCTV cameras and wireless security systems for home and business.

Also See:  [ Smaller home security cameras raise privacy issues with neighbors ]
[ How do employee privacy rights figure into video surveillance? ]
[ Invasion of privacy laws, video surveillance & issues of legality ]

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