Greetings. As if there weren't enough truly important issues to worry about, a U.S. Congressman has introduced the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (CPPAA) -- which would require all cell phones to make an audible sound when snapping a photo.

There's no evidence that illicit "underskirting" photography is a significant problem outside of Japan and Korea, and the law would only apply to phone cameras, not the vast range of other camera devices available, many of which are far smaller and more easily used surreptitiously than a cell phone.

And as for the vast number of situations where cell phones are used legitimately to take photos where a notification sound would be disruptive -- even dangerous -- well, better not to mention those since they get in the way of the fantasy on which the CPPAA is predicated.

Also, given that many cell phones can now shoot video as well as still photos, I wonder if this same Congressman would propose that all video camera devices beep constantly when in video record mode -- just like trucks backing up? That'll do wonders for the audio tracks, eh?

Never let the facts and reality get in the way of political grandstanding.

--Lauren--