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1.  

   Privacy Issue

   

   Thomas, Nov 16th, 2004 @ 6:42pm

   
   

   Is this not so much an issue of safety, but of privacy. The ubiquity of cellphones has numbed us to them, so much so that I rarely think twice about someone with one. Now, if I don't notice that someone is snapping a picture of my credit card, or whatever else, then shouldn't I be worried?

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2.  

   Re: Privacy Issue

   

   Mike (profile), Nov 16th, 2004 @ 7:07pm

   
   

   So... because you can't be bothered to stay aware of what's happening, every one else has to pay extra? As I pointed out in the article, anyone planning to steal your credit card this way (and most camera phones aren't nearly good enough to do this) would simply cover up the flash or disable the click.
   
   If anything, this makes you LESS secure -- because you wouldn't pay attention, assuming any camera phone would make a noise or flash a light. This makes it even easier for real criminals to invade your privacy.

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3.  

   Re: Privacy Issue

   

   Thomas, Nov 16th, 2004 @ 8:27pm

   
   

   I think that my ultimate point is that in the future, I'm afraid that this is going to be a bad thing, that bad people can take advantage of the new technology (that will only get better); I'm not saying that they should needlessly increase the price due to only possible or improbable threats, but that this issue shouldn't simply be written off. It rather should be investigated to produce some compromise with privacy in mind. Even the most alert person can be swindled. There is a fundamental difference between leaving your door open at night, because the robber can break in anyway, and locking it.

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4.  

   Re: Privacy Issue

   

   xman, Nov 17th, 2004 @ 4:13am

   
   

   Sorry, but if everyone is walking round with cameras there is *NOTHING* you can do to maintain your privacy. There is *NO* compromise that will restore your privacy - any technological solution you come up with will be broken. Just like copy protection. The only way to deal with things like this is to get some kind of social consensus going that makes people behave in reasoonableways and that will take a long time and it may even be too late for that.

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5.  

   Re: Privacy Issue

   

   Chomper, Nov 17th, 2004 @ 7:59am

   
   

   Or just use a lot more common sense. I see people waving credit cards around or just leaving them on a table for a waiter to grab or at the checkout line, they leave it there while they sign something.
   
   I don't think phones are as much the problem as people are just dumb/careless.

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6.  

   A better approach

   

   RJD, Nov 17th, 2004 @ 8:09am

   
   

   Starting to feel like a movie star with the photographers hidden in bushes waiting to jump out and snap your picture ?
   
   Take the Sean Penn approach and if you see someone including you in a picture, destroy their phone and threaten to do the same to them.
   
   Can you see 'phone rage' being the next big social syndrome ?
   

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7.  

   No Subject Given

   

   Jim Harper, Nov 17th, 2004 @ 8:58am

   
   

   Kudos to Mike here.

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