Picturing Legislation

When considering the future of converged devices, much policy consideration is deservedly placed on the distribution of entertainment content.  However, there are seedlings of legislation that indicate that user-created content will see its fair share of regulatory debate.  So far, much of this has focused on applications of camera phones.

For, example, last year Congress passed a bill that makes photo/video voyeurism illegal on federal property.  Voyeurism is defined as taking unauthorized photos of naked and partially dressed people.  This rule was primarly created with military facilities in mind.

A more extreme example comes from New Jersey...

....The Garden State is considering legislation that would force camera phones to emit a sound or flash a light when taking a photo.  The CTIA is against the bill saying that legislation should place emphasis on the action and not the device.

While several state legislatures have passed or are considering camera phone bills focused on voyeurism, New Jersey’s bill is the only one that focuses on technology mandates.

Way back in 2003, The Feature ran an interesting analysis of “The Connected Camera” experience in Asia to give a guidepost for Western nations. It touches on digital copyright considerations that could shape potential legislation about the usage of camera phones.  The story reports:

Mobile phones (in Asia) are a common sight; it can be difficult to tell if someone's using a phone to take a picture. Most mobile phone cameras make some kind of a sound when they snap a shot. Recently, handset manufacturers in Korea fought a legislative effort to make the sound louder - they said it would damage sales. Either way, a determined hacker can turn their sound off, or muffle the speaker….

…The first reports of an effort to limit "digital shoplifting" emerged from Japan last week. Storekeepers were tired of people photographing cool hairstyles or clothes in magazines and sending the snapshot to their friends, instead of buying the printed matter….

…These "shoplifters" are using mobile phones to augment an inefficient means of content distribution. Arguably, they should be able to get the magazine's content digitally without having to scan, perhaps off a website service. It's a pedestrian version of Napster - digitizing media without permission because it's the most convenient way to share. People want to use technology to share. Much of the discussion about digital copyright violations in the West happens under the rubric of "file sharing." But digital camera use in magazine stands was labeled "digital shoplifting" by the Japanese Magazine Publishers Association. It was a masterstroke of publicity, immediately identifying this phenomenon with crime by name. "Digital shoplifting" adapts the old rules covering property theft for citizen digitization.

The Japanese Magazine Publishers Association signs posted in bookstores admonish browsers to "refrain from recording information with camera-mounted cell phones and other devices." But according to Ito, it's not just bookstores that have to worry about their contents being digitized and spread: "A curious unintended outcome [of connected cameras] is that people are going to be more careful about making things available in print."

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