A post by Pat
There is no problem too big or too small for Congress to write a law to correct. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) introduced a bill requiring all cell phones with cameras to make an audible sound when a picture is taken. It’s to protect the children.
Camera Phone Predator Alert Act
Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone.
a) Requirement- Beginning 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, any mobile phone containing a digital camera that is manufactured for sale in the United States shall sound a tone or other sound audible within a reasonable radius of the phone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera in such phone. A mobile phone manufactured after such date shall not be equipped with a means of disabling or silencing such tone or sound.
(b) Enforcement by Consumer Product Safety Commission- The requirement in subsection (a) shall be treated as a consumer product safety standard promulgated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission under section 7 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2056). A violation of subsection (a) shall be enforced by the Commission under section 19 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2068).
I don’t question Congress’ expertise in depraved activity, but I wonder just how necessary it is to write a law like this. If a creep is really intent on getting a surreptitious picture of a child, he’ll find a way. And what about video taken by a cell phone? On the other hand, the normal people may have a reasonable justification for wanting a silent mode option like trying not to disturb people around them.
Could this have anything to do with a BART officer shooting a handcuffed person in the back and then not being able to locate and confiscate all of the video and pictures? Just a thought.
When I read about these types of congressional efforts, I am always reminded something the Governor Jesse Ventura said. He was asked what he, as governor, should do about illegal drugs. His answer was “Nothing”. He understood that drug enforcement was really an issue for cities and counties, not the states.
The cell phone photo issue is a good litmus test for actual conservatives. Although I actually think the idea has merit, I don’t believe that this is a federal issue. Individual states or even municipalities should be allowed to debate the issue.
I wonder what they will do about cell phone video cams. Maybe it will sound like the old wind-up Panavision 16MM cameras. Of course, the perv. counertmeasure will be for some entrepenure to offer a way to silence the camera, or a camera shaped like a cell phone, or a pen, or whatever.
Nothing can be made “foolproof”, because fools are so ingenious.