An article about the pros and cons camera phones in the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror caught my eye because of a comment attributed to Nokia and wrong information about Saudi Arabia.
The article doesn’t say anything that’s new. It’s based in part on comments by a Sri Lankan police officer who says camera phones can be used for bad things (violating privacy) and good things (taking photos of criminals).
But the item about Nokia struck me: “When contacted by the Daily Mirror, a Singaporean-based official of the leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia said how the mobile device is used and for what purposes lies in the hands of the customer and cannot be controlled by the manufacturer.”
Sorry, we just build the bombs. We have no responsibility for their use after they leave our factory!
Doing a better job
Okay, okay, I’m being facetious. But either the Nokia official said much more but the newspaper only used that bit of information or that was indeed the jist of the interview. Regardless, it’s a cover-your-ass statement that’s pretty ridiculous….assuming that is indeed what he said.
Nokia has done more to publicize the value of camera phones — and multimedia phones in general — than any handset manufacturer. It’s too bad the Nokia official didn’t do a better job (I’m assuming he didn’t) of discussing the issues so the reporter wouldn’t have printed that silly statement.
One mistake: The Daily Mirror says some governments have banned camera phones in specific public places, such as gyms and swimming pools (true), but to avoid any problems Saudi Arabia has totally banned camera phones. Wrong! Saudi Arabia had banned camera phones but lifted the ban almost two years ago, as I wrote.
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