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Eye Spy: Are Camera Phones an Invasion of Privacy?

Aired January 12, 2004 - 14:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well they call them security risks and a gross invasion of privacy. Those camera phones that filled stockings this past Christmas don't click with corporate America. Several companies now, including some of the nation's largest auto manufacturers, have banned them.
Tech Reporter Stephanie Armour wrote about this growing trend for "USA Today." She joins us.

Hi -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ARMOUR, TECH REPORTER, "USA TODAY": Hi.

PHILLIPS: Well you talked about in your article the worker's privacy issues, the company secrets. Tell me what companies have taken action and why. What did you find out when you started interviewing various people?

ARMOUR: Actually, a large number of companies are starting to at least examine this issue, and a few are starting to pass policies really limiting or restricting use. At Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler, you can't even bring your camera phone into the office. And General Motors, you can not bring them into specific areas where they may be doing product development. Texas Instruments, you can bring your camera phone to work but you can't be caught taking any pictures.

PHILLIPS: So what are -- what are employees saying to company bosses, this is unfair? Have they stood up and argued against this or?

ARMOUR: At this point, employees seem to be taking these policies in stride. A number of companies have had policies on the books saying you can't bring a camera to work. So what they're doing is they are going back in, they are retooling and they are saying OK, a camera phone is really just a camera, you can't bring that either.

But some of the employees I talked with said it's frustrating because camera phones, on the other hand, can be a real advantage in the workplace. You can use it to show clients what you're working on. You can use it to update people about what's going on or to show business deals what's going on. So a lot of people are also frustrated that they can't use them the way they would like to in a workplace.

PHILLIPS: You had also mentioned some folks at a courthouse in Michigan. What was the...

ARMOUR: That is correct, yes.

PHILLIPS: What was the concern there, taking pictures of maybe people that take the stand that they don't want to be...

ARMOUR: Right. Right. It's sort of a new take on cameras in the courtroom. Basically they are saying they are concerned that if you bring this into the courtroom you'll take pictures of potential jurors, you'll take pictures of people who are under cover. So they put up signs saying no camera phones allowed whatsoever in the courthouse.

So a lot of companies are really going that extra step of completely doing a ban all the way around. In fact, Samsung in Japan has banned camera phones. And sort of ironic because they're one of the biggest manufacturers of camera phones as well. So they also see the inherent risk in terms of privacy as well as corporate secrets.

PHILLIPS: Now, Stephanie, you mentioned a lot of these corporations in your article, and I know you didn't mention the military. But I'm just curious to know is that sort of the next step? Do you think we'll be hearing from the Pentagon, the CIA, the FBI, saying boy, we're concerned about possible spying? We're concerned about classified information getting out?

ARMOUR: Actually, the analysts that I talked with said that they do believe that this is something that's going to hit a lot of other industries. And I would assume the military is right up there in terms of saying we need to have a policy that's going to be a blanket policy about this across the books. So I don't know that it's come to a head there yet, but I do think that it's on its way. Typically they tend to follow what private industry is doing as well.

PHILLIPS: And it's interesting, if you look at the phone sales, $3.2 million in 2003. And then the projection for 2004, $10.5 million. That's three times as much. I guess this is becoming just a way of life.

ARMOUR: Yes, camera phones are really exploding in popularity because they've become so affordable. You can get them for just slightly more than a typical phone. And in fact, I think by 2008 they believe half of all cell phones will be camera phones. So it's going to be something showing up in the workplace. And I think as you have more and more technology evolving, even PDAs, at this point, some of them do enable you to take pictures. And the picture quality is getting better. That is really going to become sort of a new issue for companies to deal with where they haven't had to deal with it before.

PHILLIPS: "USA Today" Tech Reporter, Stephanie Armour, reading your articles. Thanks -- Stephanie.

ARMOUR: Thanks very much.

PHILLIPS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 12, 2004 - 14:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well they call them security risks and a gross invasion of privacy. Those camera phones that filled stockings this past Christmas don't click with corporate America. Several companies now, including some of the nation's largest auto manufacturers, have banned them.
Tech Reporter Stephanie Armour wrote about this growing trend for "USA Today." She joins us.

Hi -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ARMOUR, TECH REPORTER, "USA TODAY": Hi.

PHILLIPS: Well you talked about in your article the worker's privacy issues, the company secrets. Tell me what companies have taken action and why. What did you find out when you started interviewing various people?

ARMOUR: Actually, a large number of companies are starting to at least examine this issue, and a few are starting to pass policies really limiting or restricting use. At Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler, you can't even bring your camera phone into the office. And General Motors, you can not bring them into specific areas where they may be doing product development. Texas Instruments, you can bring your camera phone to work but you can't be caught taking any pictures.

PHILLIPS: So what are -- what are employees saying to company bosses, this is unfair? Have they stood up and argued against this or?

ARMOUR: At this point, employees seem to be taking these policies in stride. A number of companies have had policies on the books saying you can't bring a camera to work. So what they're doing is they are going back in, they are retooling and they are saying OK, a camera phone is really just a camera, you can't bring that either.

But some of the employees I talked with said it's frustrating because camera phones, on the other hand, can be a real advantage in the workplace. You can use it to show clients what you're working on. You can use it to update people about what's going on or to show business deals what's going on. So a lot of people are also frustrated that they can't use them the way they would like to in a workplace.

PHILLIPS: You had also mentioned some folks at a courthouse in Michigan. What was the...

ARMOUR: That is correct, yes.

PHILLIPS: What was the concern there, taking pictures of maybe people that take the stand that they don't want to be...

ARMOUR: Right. Right. It's sort of a new take on cameras in the courtroom. Basically they are saying they are concerned that if you bring this into the courtroom you'll take pictures of potential jurors, you'll take pictures of people who are under cover. So they put up signs saying no camera phones allowed whatsoever in the courthouse.

So a lot of companies are really going that extra step of completely doing a ban all the way around. In fact, Samsung in Japan has banned camera phones. And sort of ironic because they're one of the biggest manufacturers of camera phones as well. So they also see the inherent risk in terms of privacy as well as corporate secrets.

PHILLIPS: Now, Stephanie, you mentioned a lot of these corporations in your article, and I know you didn't mention the military. But I'm just curious to know is that sort of the next step? Do you think we'll be hearing from the Pentagon, the CIA, the FBI, saying boy, we're concerned about possible spying? We're concerned about classified information getting out?

ARMOUR: Actually, the analysts that I talked with said that they do believe that this is something that's going to hit a lot of other industries. And I would assume the military is right up there in terms of saying we need to have a policy that's going to be a blanket policy about this across the books. So I don't know that it's come to a head there yet, but I do think that it's on its way. Typically they tend to follow what private industry is doing as well.

PHILLIPS: And it's interesting, if you look at the phone sales, $3.2 million in 2003. And then the projection for 2004, $10.5 million. That's three times as much. I guess this is becoming just a way of life.

ARMOUR: Yes, camera phones are really exploding in popularity because they've become so affordable. You can get them for just slightly more than a typical phone. And in fact, I think by 2008 they believe half of all cell phones will be camera phones. So it's going to be something showing up in the workplace. And I think as you have more and more technology evolving, even PDAs, at this point, some of them do enable you to take pictures. And the picture quality is getting better. That is really going to become sort of a new issue for companies to deal with where they haven't had to deal with it before.

PHILLIPS: "USA Today" Tech Reporter, Stephanie Armour, reading your articles. Thanks -- Stephanie.

ARMOUR: Thanks very much.

PHILLIPS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com