Responsible Camera Phone Use
Increasingly today’s mobile phones can be used to send and receive photos and even moving images. A built-in digital camera in certain phones allows people to take high quality pictures and send them instantly to somebody else’s mobile phone or email address. Users can even post them to a chat room (a sort of electronic notice-board that anyone can look at) or, to the Internet.
These ‘camera phones’ are becoming more and more popular with consumers and businesses. They are fun and can be used in all sorts of ways.
A camera phone could be used while you’re on holiday, if you want to share an amusing moment with some of your family and friends. You just click and send a picture. Immediately, they’ll see where you are and what you’re doing. It’s certainly much quicker and a lot less effort than sending a postcard.
Businesses too, are finding exciting uses for this new technology. Estate agents, for example, can send pictures of new houses on the market. Car dealers are using them to show customers new cars. Some doctors are even using camera phones to send clips of x-rays to specialist consultants, so that they can get information about what’s wrong with their patients. Firemen and paramedics, at the scene of accidents, are sending photos of the injured back to accident & emergency departments within hospitals.
But, like a lot of new things, camera phones need to be used responsibly and with a certain amount of care. Children, in particular, need to be careful so that they don’t misuse them – or allow others to exploit them in anyway.
Think before you send
Digital technology means that photos can very quickly be edited, copied, forwarded or even posted on the worldwide web for everyone to see.
Camera phone users should be careful about what they send and to whom. It may not just be family and friends who end up looking at the pictures. A picture sent to several friends Responsible camera phone use could end up being circulated more widely, and even being made public on the web. It is very easy to click and send when you know how the technology works. Children need to think carefully about what pictures different people may see.
Protect your identity
Extra care should be taken in sending a picture or video to somebody you don’t know very well. Apart from not being sure what they will do with it, a picture may contain something which could help them trace you or find out more about you.
Quite accidentally, pictures can contain clues about the people in them, or even about the sender. The clue may be in the background – the number or front of a house or the name of a street, for example. Otherwise, it may simply be the school uniform or football shirt being worn, or simply the make and colour of a car.
Any snippets of information like this – possibly pieced together from several pictures – may help those who might want to harm children.
Multimedia (or MMS) ‘Chatting’ responsibly
Chatrooms allow people to have ‘real time’ conversations with other people with camera phones – not just in text, but using sound and pictures too. MMS Chatting is not video-conferencing but the posting of short clips or still images on a public message board to which people can respond. These stay there and can be viewed or copied for some time after the conversation has taken place, in all likelihood by strangers, so extra care needs to be taken.
People should remember that posting personal information in messages or photographs or giving their phone number, or other personal contact information into a chatroom can put them in danger.
The important thing to remember is that whatever is sent to a chatroom can be looked at by anybody.
Chatroom users should always be suspicious of people they do not know, particularly in one-to-one, private chat. Private chat is unmoderated and can be used by people who may pretend to be children in order to gain the confidence of other children. Unsafe private chat may also include requests to children to send pictures of themselves.
Bullying
Camera phones can be used for bullying. Children can send scary or offensive pictures to other children to upset them. Children should be encouraged to keep the message and to always tell someone immediately. If messages are stored, it is usually possible to trace the culprit so that they can be quickly identified.
It’s better to share a problem rather than suffer alone. If children are receiving unwanted images, then these should be reported to your phone service provider.
Equally important, children should never be tempted to use camera phones to bully others.
Guard your privacy
Children can be photographed by others – sometimes by their friends and sometimes by strangers – in inappropriate situations and places. It is possible to take photographs of unsuspecting children at the swimming pool for instance, which could then be posted on the web or widely distributed.
People should watch out for anyone they think might be misusing their camera phone. It’s not always obvious because the phones are so small and simple to use. But, if you do spot something odd and are concerned, report it straight away.
It is important to remember that for someone to get a clear photo, they would have to be very close to the person they are taking a picture of. This means it may be difficult to take illicit photos in a swimming pool or leisure centre changing rooms with a normal sized camera. In such an environment, a small camera is a far greater threat.
Respect others
Pictures can be very powerful and stir up strong emotions. We strongly advise all our customers to make sure the pictures they send are not offensive in any way. Obscene, indecent or menacing pictures are not permitted. In fact, sending such pictures may be illegal. Users should be sensitive about other people’s gender, colour, religion or personal background.
Camera phone users should respect the private lives of others, and not take or distribute pictures of other people if it could invade their privacy. Keep safe Camera phones can be used to make children safer. Older children, for example using a taxi, can send a picture of the car’s registration details to a friend before they begin the trip, or can simply use the phone to show parents where they are.
Camera phones can make life easier, safer, and more fun. The vast majority of people use their camera phones safely and responsibly, but as with any technology, care needs to be taken.
