Mobile phones which take pictures

[Alastair Scott]

(Not quite 'crypto', but germane to ongoing discussions of
identification technology!)

There are at least two, with more to come:

http://www.nokia.com/phones/7650/index.html

http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?template=P3_1&B=ie&PID=9940&LM=PSM_V

Now ... if such cameras became widespread, the most overwhelming
distributed oppressive mechanism (to coin a phrase) could be built up
_voluntarily_ without a CCTV camera in sight.

Imagine if the mobile phone mugger, of whom the streets of London are
supposedly crawling with, was confronted by having his or her
photograph taken and instantly sent to nearby phones, put up on a Web
site and so on. Presumably the legal implications are colossal,
especially if the 'mugger' is no mugger.

(IMO it's a dead certainty somebody'll set something like this up).

Alastair