Recently, Congress proposed the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (H.R. 414).  The idea behind it is to protect Americans from unscrupulous people with camera phones.  Technology has made it easier for cell phone users to take indecent images and steal private information without the subject knowing. To help curb this problem, the proposed legislation would require phones containing a digital camera to make a sound when a photograph is taken.

(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).

Identity theft is a real issue and needs to be addressed.  Installing noise makers on camera phones will not solve the problem. I don’t see a problem with this as a partial solution.  But the law will not prevent people from taking pictures.

Laws  restricting photography are always my biggest concern. This bill only applies to cell phones.   Is this a dumb bill? Would it be effective? Or, is it just a waste of  government time and our money?

What is your opinion?