A Wonderful post copied from Digital Messiah
Have you heard of Flying camera Phones? Chances are that many of you did not!
Smart phone cameras are really getting smarter with every passing model. Resolutions have been bumped up to 300 MP as on date with telescopic and digital zooms hovering around 10x and 100x respectively.
While the resolution is not much of a problem from the safety point of view, the ever increasing zoom levels are a definite cause of concern. You never really know who is watching you from far away and worse, you never know who is recording you with a high end camera phone. So many videos leaked online are a testament to this. How are they getting linked online? Well that is the subject of another post. The main issue right now is that women's safety is under serious threat from this high zoom level.
While that issue is still not even flagged as a threat, let alone be addressed, companies are planning to introduce flying cameras that will take off from your mobile phones!!! Just like a mini drone. Till now, the maximum innovation in the camera mechanism (not to be confused with the resolution or zoom level) was that we had cameras that pop up from the body and swivel 360 degrees. In comparison, this new tech of flying cameras is like from another planet!!!! The complete camera setup will take off much like a quadcopter and fly for as long as the battery permits. See pics below
Flying Mobile cameras - Artist's impressions Conventional Quadcopter
(Single turbine) (Quad turbine) (Photo by Jonathan Lampel)
So, for all practical purposes a mini drone will take off from your mobile which you can control from your mobile itself.
See its wonderful pros:-
1. You don't have to carry a big drone with you,
2. There is no separate controller,
3. Expected to be vastly cheaper than a high end mobile + conventional drone (as user expected to buy a smart phone for his personal needs anyway),
4. Users may become more creative with their videos with aerial shots.
On the cons front:-
1. Conventional drone is a costly equipment registered to a licensed operator which makes each drone traceable. This provides the security that may become absent in flying cameras from mobiles as tying a camera to a mobile may be practically impossible in present business model (though technologically possible). In addition, camera modules may be available as spares for these mobiles and there is no way, one can keep track of spares. The pre-owned segment where records are not kept is also a major problem here.
2. These flying cams are extremely detrimental to women's security as these can keep flying anywhere from wash rooms ventilators to bed rooms windows to stair cases for up-skirt views etc without fear of persecution. The list is endless. Sometimes, we may be able to take a swipe at the flying camera and bring it down but it would have transmitted its images anyway. Men will risk losing a replaceable camera module for the footage of women they can get for fun/blackmail or to create a scandal.
3. These flying cameras are primarily being made for users to get aerial shots and we can assume they will go minimum 20-30 metres into the air. If that is taken as the range, anyone can intrude into the private spaces of anyone within that range in an apartment block, hotel or school etc.
As this is a work in progress, Women must make a strong case for themselves against this needless invention, with emphasis on the following:-
Option 1
1. These cameras must not be made available commercially as they are not for the good of anyone.
2. If required the R&D may be shelfed at this point itself.
Option 2 - In case market considerations overtake concerns on Women's safety
1. All the flying camera modules must be tied to the IMEI number of the phone.
2. Mobile phones to come with 3-4 spare camera modules - all tied to the IMEI number. No further spares to be provided.
3. Limit the maximum range of operation to 5 metres which is good enough for over head shots, which is the main stated purpose of these devices.
4. Pursue stringent legal safe guards to deter people from using them in apartment complexes, offices , malls etc.
5. Make them prohibitively expensive so that only a few people have them, which makes identification also easier.
6. These should be tagged in the pre-owned market also i.e from the birth to death of the phone, so that the exact ownership details of the flying camera are always available.
