One of the unpleasant things I see in my job (without going into too much detail so I don't upset our lawyers) are candid photos taken of people that end up being used for unsavory purposes. Most y'all have heard of the Girls Gone Wild phenomenon, the countless photos that get taken at Mardi Gras ("Show us your tits!"), and sadly even at Burning Man recently. It's annoying when you seen it done to drunken women in public, disturbing when it involves teenage girls posing for their boyfriends (and getting posted to the internet without their knowledge), and absolutely disgusting (and illegal) when it's innocent kids, from toddlers to teens, playing around at the beach in bathing suits, for example, getting snapped for someone's secret gratification (secret, of course, until it's posted for the rest of the world to consume online). Right now phonecams probably aren't great for most of those scenarios due to their marginal quality, but once they acquire the range of a decent telephoto camera, well, prepare to be under surveillance (of course, we are already, if you think about all the closed-circuit cameras that capture your daily activities). Anyway, Wired just ran an interesting story about this growing problem that's worth a read. And check out Mobile Asses for an example of what's happening.
Posted by jen at June 20, 2003 11:42 AM | TrackBack