CNBC discusses, posts poll about camera phones

Thanks very much to Otto Timmons, the founder of 3GR consulting, for e-mailing me that CNBC's "Power Lunch" show is right now (lunch time on the East Coast) talking about camera phones and has posted a poll about their use. The poll asks: "Should cell/camera phones be banned from offices and locker rooms?"

The CNBC Web site says, "Cellular camera phones are growing in popularity, but there are concerns that they are becoming a threat to privacy.

"The phones, which take digital pictures, can be great for snapshots out on the town, but employers are becoming worried that they could be used take pictures of sensitive documents. Some companies are now banning camera phones from their offices.

"A number of gyms are also banning the phones on concerns of members being photographed surreptitiously while working out or in the locker room."

Get your comments in

There's an e-mail address for sending comments: powerlunch@cnbc.com.

If you read this now (1:25 p.m.), you might be able to get your comment on the air. I fired off some quick comments a few minutes ago.

Uninformed comments

One uninformed comment from the CNBC hosts....They said something like, "and these camera phones have good resolution." This isn't an exact quote, but they did mention the "good" resolution. In my e-mail, I did try to "enlighten" them!

Power Poll results: CNBC reports that out of 1,574 responses to its poll, 72 percent of the respondents said ban camera phones from locker rooms and offices and 28 percent said don't ban them.

How many times do I have to write that the wireless industry has done a pathetically bad job marketing the positive aspects of camera phones before the industry takes some action? The CNBC poll is just one more indication of how camera phones are generating so much negative publicity.

Comments

[julian garcia]

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