IT firms shut out spying camera phones

Samsung and LG Electronics have both barred employees from using camera phones on their research and manufacturing facilities in Korea to protect against industrial espionage and intellectual property theft,

For Samsung, the ban applies to a host of businesses including semiconductor plants, as well as its digital media and telecommunications equipment production lines in the country, according to Korean daily Chosun Ilbo.

Under the sanction, workers have to register their camera handsets and cover the lenses of their mobile phones during office hours. Visitors will also subjected to the same rule and any attempt to tamper with the stickers before leaving Samsung's premises will constitute a violation of the ban, the report said.

Kim Gwang-tae, Samsung's managing director, said: "Some point out that this may be a violation of individual rights, but if a core technology is taken to the outside then the damages are fatal."

Similar measures have also been adopted by LG Electronic across 10 of its research institutes in Korea. The company is said to be considering a ban on camera handsets at its life engineering institutes where cutting-edge technologies are being developed, the report added.

Korea-based automotive makers Hyundai and Kia Motors have also imposed identical restrictions on their workers.

Besides corporate espionage, the growing popularity of camera phones has also sparked concerns over individual privacy. In some countries, the use of these gadgets is already prohibited in public areas such as swimming pools and changing rooms to protect consumers against the wandering lenses of voyeurs. Bookstore owners in Japan are also mulling measures to stop female shoppers from snapping pictures of magazines with their camera-phones, a trend they termed "digital shoplifting".

To address the problem, Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication is currently considering similar rules to govern the use of camera phones in the country.

In addition, Korean authorities are reportedly mulling a separate law which makes it mandatory for phone makers to install a "noise emitter" in their camera-equipped handsets.

Under the proposed bill by Korea's ruling Millennium Democratic Party, manufacturers will have to design their camera phones to emit a loud noise when pictures are taken. This will alert the public when their pictures are snapped to prevent human rights infringements and industrial espionage.

However, this move is frowned upon by the country's mobile phone makers. A spokesman from Samsung said in the report the new regulation could dampen both domestic and international sales.