Group Blasts Cameraphone SnoopsGroup Blasts Cameraphone Snoops

A British privacy advocacy group Wednesday called on mobile phone makers to take steps to prevent the use of cameraphones to invade privacy.

Privacy International claimed that cameraphones should be set to flash every time a picture is taken. That, in turn, would prevent what it termed covert photography taken without the subject's consent.

The group said that such photos can embarrass the subject of the image, hurt relationships and even be used for blackmail and harassment. It noted a significant increase in complaints about such invasions of privacy and noted that some governments, including the U.S. Congress, are considering reforms.

Reforms such as the mandatory flash are necessary because cameraphones are starting to have some of the same features as standalone digital cameras such as higher resolution and auto focus, the group said. That means they can used instead of -- and more covertly than -- regular digital cameras.

"The misuse of phone cameras is becoming a real threat to privacy. Unless action is taken immediately there is a risk that social intimacy will disappear within a decade," Privacy International's director, Simon Davies, said in a statement. "Phone companies have a legal and a moral responsibility to fix these problems. This is not an attack on the technology. It is a call to make the technology safe."