Oppressive regimes hate camera phones: First Saudi Arabia, now Cuba

First is was Saudi Arabia banning camera phones nationwide -- although people buy them on the black market. Now it seems Cuba is suggesting that tourists don't take camera phones into the country.

Oppressive, totalitarian regimes -- and institutions (such as schools!) -- don't like camera phones. They don't want people photographing police and government abuses and quickly transmitting the graphic evidence.

I wrote on November 21, 2003 that we would see "suicide photographers" taking photos of abuses, sending them via cellular and then, possibly, getting killed by the authorities. Unfortunately, I think it's only a matter of time until someone taking photos of abuses will be killed or thrown into jail.

Cuba doesn't want camera phones

picturephoning.com pointed me to an article in The Inquirer that reports a British couple on a Caribbean cruise left the ship in Havana and were stronlg advised by customs officials to return their camera phone to their cabin and, instead, bring a digital (non-wireless) camera into the country.

Assuming this report is accurate, the Britishers made some inquiries later and were told the Cuban government doesn't want people taking and transmitting photos of places, people, whatever that are prohibited before the government has a chance to censor the images.

The Inquirer points out that to transmit a photo in Cuba, the network has to be MMS-capable and has to have a roaming agreement with your cellular operator to permit you to send photos. So, the camera phone might not have been able to transmit a photo in any case.

The bigger "picture"

Technology, however, isn't the issue. Government policy is. I wouldn't be surprised if other countries banned camera phones or greatly restricted their uses. Hmmm, I hope Saudi Arabia and Cuba don't give any ideas about camera phones to some of the less civil liberties-loving thugs in the U.S. Justice Department!

My flippancy notwithstanding, this is a serious issue. The ability to take photos might not be a "right" per se, but the more restrictive a society, the greater the chance of banning photographs.

When I toured the Soviet Union more than 20 years ago, I was very grateful for being an American who was able to take photos of U.S. government buildings, for example, but not being allowed to take photos of many buildings in Russia. Now, if you try to take a photo of a government building in Washington, D.C., there's a good chance you'll be stopped by security guards.

What price liberty?