MSNBC reports (poorly) on camera phones and identity theft

I waited for more than an hour this morning for a report that was "coming up" on MSNBC about camera phones and identity theft. What a waste of time, waiting to watch a crummy report.

The reporter was in Wilmington, N.C. and discussed how thieves could employ camera phones to take photos of shoppers' credit cards. Sound familiar? The alarm about the same subject was sounded by an Arkansas sheriff, as I wrote on Wednesday.

If you read Wednesday's posting you'll know what MSNBC reported. The Wilmington police are warning people that criminals could use camera phones to take photos of credit cards. Unsuspecting citizens could become victims of identity theft without knowing about it.

Rotten journalism

There was no attempt to show that a camera phone could take a photo that would be sharp enough to display a credit card number. Even the most inexperienced journalist should ask to see evidence that this was possible.

I believe it is extremely difficult, based upon today's VGA camera phones, to take a sufficiently clear photo. As I wrote on Wednesday, you can take a good enough photo but you have to get close to the card, the lighting has to be bright enough enough and neither the card nor the camera must move to ensure a sufficiently sharp photo.

Comments

[Tom Karches]

I just took a picture of my credit card using my Nokia 3650. I got as close as I could (3 - 4 inches) and could still barely make out the credit card number. I'm not worried.

[onayemi abiodun]

i need a nokia camera phone