US rep proposes bill to make all camera phones heard

27 January 2009 18:09 GMT / By Verity Burns

A New York politician is pushing for a law to be introduced that would make it mandatory for all camera phones to make a noise whenever a picture is taken.

The bill, known as the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act, would see phones having to create a noise that would be "audible within a reasonable radius" in an attempt to prevent people taking pictures without others knowing. The sound would not be able to be disabled, even in silent mode.

There are similar laws already in place in Japan and South Korea, and the act was actually introduced in America in 2007 but went no where.

However, having been reintroduced by NY representative Pete King the bill has picked up one co-sponsor and should it be made law it'd be enforced by the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

Some things the bill doesn't really account for are filming video or the huge number of camera phones already out there that are able to snap silently. It'll be interesting what would be done about these should the bill ever make it through to law.

Full tags

Phones, Cameras, Mobile phones