The good, the bad and the ugly

Camera phone craziness
Whether or not camera phone users put their pictures on the Web, they can still get in trouble. "Tammy’s" case isn’t the only one where a cell phone image has caused embarrassment. Even celebrities are not immune.

When socialite Paris Hilton’s T-Mobile Sidekick II was famously hacked last year, her phone pictures were posted on the Web — pictures that included her posing topless (and lip-locked) with MTV Latin America VJ Eglantina Zingg. And early last month, World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon made the news after he allegedly tried to kiss and grope a 22-year-old tanning salon worker after showing her nude photos of himself on his camera phone.

Much has been said about the spy-like nature of camera phones. Many schools, businesses, restaurants and clubs expressly prohibit them.

“In my gym they have a sign, ‘No Camera Phones Allowed,’” Lane says. “It’s a weird modern sign that didn’t exist 5 years ago.”

In England, teens were arrested for “happy slapping,” beating random people and capturing it on their cells. Even down under, Australian police reported a rash of incidents where packs of motorists, in souped-up vehicles, video-phoned one another racing dangerously at high speeds, a practice Aussies call “hooning.”

A minor controversy in Japan centers around a new trend in which mourners use their camera phones to take pictures of the deceased. While the picture takers say they want to have a keepsake of their loved ones, others have accused it of being disrespectful — and just plain weird.

Citizen journalism
Of course, there are myriad examples of the benefits of camera phones. News organizations have begun relying on amateur footage shot by “citizen journalists” who happened upon the scene of a major news story. After the July 2005 London terrorist bombings, witnesses' camera phone pictures lent a gripping, first-person perspective to the news coverage.

Last year, a Queens, N.Y., schoolgirl used her camera phone to snap a shot of a man who flashed her on the subway. Police were able to identify the suspect and arrest him. A popular blog, Hollaback NYC (www.hollabacknyc.blogspot.com), specializes in posting women’s camera phone pictures of men who acted in an overtly disgusting or derogatory way toward them on the street.

“Camera phones allow you to easily document events in real time,” says Anthony Batt, Buzznet’s other co-founder.

Wave of the future?
Sony announced last week it would begin selling phones under its Cybershot brand name and with blogging and search tools from Google. It’s the first phone Sony has created with 3.2 megapixel picture quality — similar to a digital camera. As technology improves, some see the cell phone becoming a more multipurpose device.

“You don’t carry your laptop with you everywhere,” says Shawn Conahan, the creator of Rabble. “The one device everything should converge on is the mobile device.”

The ability to broadcast live video from camera phones will make things even more interesting — and harder to police, says Hoar. “At the end of the day though, parents need to be responsible.”

“Tammy” may have learned the negative side to having a video phone handy, but for many people, the camera phone, together with mobile blogging, provides a fun and useful way to capture and share those unexpected “Kodak” moments.

DeMartino sums up the moblogging trend this way. “When it's time to have fun we go wild. Mobloggers need to have fun bottom line.”

Adam Hunter is a freelance writer living in New York. His blog is www.sokpuppet.blogspot.com.

Correction: When first published, this article incorrectly identified The Straits Times as a Malaysian newspaper. It is based in Singapore.

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