ZDNet blogger Ed Gottsman in “Between the Lines” takes a look at how the law deals (or doesn’t deal) with portable technology, such as surreptiously recording voice conversations and taking camera phone videos.
Gottsman leads with a case in Wisconsin where the parents of a student suspected he was being harassed by the school bus driver and hid a voice-activated recorder in his backpack. (Smart move!) The recorder apparently caught harassment and it was given to the police.
Although the bus driver was arrested, the recording can’t be used in evidence in a trial because the state’s law prohibits secret recordings of conversations unless they were conducted or sanctioned by the police.
Times are a-changin’
Gottsman writes, “This type of law isn’t going to hold up for long; the technology (mostly cell phones) necessary to record wrongdoing surreptitiously is becoming convenient and ubiquitous, and this sort of situation will increasingly crop up. Citizens won’t understand the legal prohibitions — they’ll consider them perverse.”
He posits are few hypothetical situations: During a traffic accident, for example, he could turn on his cellular phone to audio record any incriminating statements or video record harassment. He says the phone’s camera could record “anti-social behavior” such as a vehicle illegally parked in a handicapped parking space (I don’t know why I hate that behavior so much, but I do!).
“Any of these might be the locus of a lawsuit or a police report, and the notion that they’d be inadmissible (for one reason or another) simply won’t make sense to the public,” Gottsman says.
E911, E311 + camera phones
Gottsman notes that New York City plans to allow consumers to send camera phone photos and videos to E911 to report criminal activities and to E311 to report city-related problems (potholes, graffiti, garbage, etc.). He says, “New York City is a bright spot, but it would be good to see more.”
This is a little bit more, Ed. Los Angeles also is looking at integrating camera phones with its E911 system and a few other municipalities are considering it as well. I’ve been interviewed about this issue by radio and newspaper reporters and it seems like an inevitable development.
Gottsman concludes: “Ubiquitous personal monitoring has its disadvantages, but it will tend to encourage people — even sadistic bus drivers — to behave themselves.”
An ongoing issue
Surreptitious photos and videos taken by consumers is a controversial issue issue and the controversy is only going to increase. With some one billion people around the world with camera phones, the possibility of taking photos and videos of criminal activities increases dramatically. That’s the good news.
However, the possibility of taking photos and videos of people doing nothing wrong also increases. That’s the bad news, obviously.
As a wireless data consultant I spend a fair amount of time pondering and discussing the social, political and business ramifications of the wireless imaging revolution (and it is a revolution), and secret photography one of those major ramifications.
Hello Mr.Reiter,
I am a graduate student at UCSD looking to market a novel lens technology for camera phones to camera phone makers and component makers. Could you please recommend or suggest a good strategy for me to find appropriate companies and reach out to them?
Thank you very much!
Posted by: Warren Tseng | Thursday, August 09, 2007 at 02:28 PM