Rep. King Sponsors Cameraphone Bill
Homeland Security Committee ranking member Peter King quietly introduced a bill earlier this month that would "require any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken." The legislation, which has not attracted cosponsors and has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also would prohibit such handsets from being manufactured with a means of disabling or silencing the sound. Enforcement would be through the Consumer Product Safety Commission. King introduced the bill in the 110th Congress as well.
The text of the proposal notes that: "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 spokeswoman for King said the nonprofit Parents For Megan's Law brought the issue to his boss's attention. The Long Island advocacy group fights child predators and staffs help lines that field reports about registered sex offender violations.
On Tuesday, King's office heard from a New Jersey woman who has a pending lawsuit against a major discount retailer because an employee was caught photographing women trying on clothes, the staffer said. The caller said if there had been a noise in conjunction with the picture-taking, she would have known his phone was under the dressing room door. A Consumer Electronics Association spokesman said his trade group understands King's concern but "we should be wary of any presumption that social issues can be resolved by government design mandates on innovators and entrepreneurs."
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus