Windows Phone Thoughts: Embedded Cameras; Good to Use & Some Good News?

”When I first got the XDA II and used the built-in camera I honestly thought, "Uups, what kind of useless camera did they build into it!" I played a bit with the camera during the first weeks, but always was disappointed of the bad picture quality and eventually stopped using it... until recently. There is no doubt, the picture quality of the XDA II is far from what I was used to with my digital 3 megapixel camera, but what I totally misunderstood in the beginning, was the usability concept, the fact that the XDA camera may serve a totally different purpose than my digital camera. But what made me change my mind?”

What indeed? You just have to read Arne Hess’s article over at PPCW.net to find out. Suffice to say that it has to do with systematically digitizing his life. The reader comments after his article show that the debate continues. ;-) In related news, New Zealand is introducing new legislation to guard against so called ‘up skirt’ snappers. You can get up to three years in prison for distributing voyeuristic material made without consent. The bill aims to safeguard people’s reasonable expectation of privacy in private (thought not public) places. The US Congress also just passed a bill that can impose fines of up to US$100,000 and a year in prison for anyone sneaking photos or videos of people in various states of undress. The good news is that countries don't seem to be introducing blanket bans on embedded cameras in particular places, but are treating the real problem: a tiny minority’s irresponsible misuse of the technology.