With the advent of camera phones, issues pertaining to invasion of privacy have assumed the centrestage. Mobile phones fixed with built-in high-resolution megapixel cameras capable of capturing, storing and transmitting voyeuristic images and video clips have wreaked havoc with the private lives of individuals. The sheer capability of these camera phone images being circulated over the Internet, have provoked worldwide concern over the protections afforded by privacy laws.

Camera phone voyeurism originated in the U.S. in 2003, when authorities in Seattle caught 20-year-old Jack Le Vu secretly taking underskirt photographs of a woman with his camera phone. Vu was sentenced to a two-month imprisonment and was registered as a sex offender by judicial authorities for camera phone voyeurism. Today, camera phone voyeurism invading privacy rights has increased to an alarming proportion. A simple Internet search will reveal scores of websites exclusively dedicated for posting these surreptitiously snapped prurient camera phone images and videos, be it of honeymooning couples in hotels, extra-marital liaisons, or unsuspecting victims in gymnasiums, swimming pools, bathrooms and changing rooms.

India, too, rides high on the vice of camera phone voyeurism. The images of a Delhi Public School girl "going down" on her classmate, honeymooning couple in a compromising position on their wedding night in a Shimla hotel, Kareena and Shahid Kapoor kissing, morphed images of actress Trisha Krishnan taking a shower, and Mallika Sherawat look-alike in an intimate scene remain vivid. The list is endless.

Countries around the world have enacted different laws to tackle camera phone voyeurism. For example, while a proposed Saudi Arabia legislation punishes a camera phone voyeur with 1,000 lashes, a 12-year jail sentence and a fine of 100,000 Saudi Riyals (approximately US$ 26,669), Japan requires all camera phones to release a clicking sound or a flash whenever a photograph is taken. The U.S. leads the list of nations protecting individual privacy with at least 12 U.S. States punishing voyeuristic or "Peeping Tom" activities by means of their individual privacy protection statutes. In addition, the U.S. Federal Communications Decency Act, 1996 prohibits the use of a telecommunication device to make, create, solicit or transmit indecent or obscene images intended to abuse, threaten or harass another person. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act, 2004, thus making video voyeurism on federal property, such as national parks and public buildings, a crime punishable by charging up to $100,000 and a one-year imprisonment.

Although India does not have such specific and well-defined privacy laws to punish camera phone voyeurs, the remedies available under existing Indian laws are substantial. Specifically, the following provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ("IPC") can be employed to penalize a camera phone voyeur: (i) Section 292 of the IPC, which makes circulation or publication of obscene acts or objects that affect public decency and morals punishable with imprisonment of up to 2 years and a fine of up to Rs. 2,000 on the first conviction, and imprisonment of up to 5 years and a fine of up to Rs. 5,000 on each subsequent conviction. Apart from the actual circulation or publication, this Section also punishes the making, producing or possessing of such an object for the purpose of circulation or publication; (ii) Section 500 of the IPC, which punishes a camera phone voyeur for defamation if the defamatory images are published or transmitted to others, with a two-year imprisonment and/or fine; and (iii) Section 509 of the IPC, which punishes a person who insults the modesty of a woman inter alia by exhibiting any object and intrudes upon the privacy of the woman with imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine.

Moreover, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 ("IRWA") prohibits a person from producing, selling, letting for hire, distributing or circulating inter alia any slide, film, photograph, representation or figure which contains an indecent representation of women in any form. The IRWA also authorizes a Gazetted Officer approved by the respective State Government to enter any premise and search and seize any offensive material. The first conviction under the IRWA is punishable with imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to Rs. 2,000. On each subsequent conviction, the offender can be punished with imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years and with a fine from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 100,000.

In order to address the growing concern over privacy invasion associated with camera phones, the Information Technology Act, 2000 (vide Section 67) makes publication of obscene information in electronic form an offense punishable with imprisonment of up to 5 years and a fine of up to Rs. 100,000 on the first conviction, and imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs. 200,000 on any subsequent conviction. Such stringent laws mandate responsible camera phone usage.

Handset-manufacturing companies should consider providing the following Camera Phone Code of Conduct with the sale of every new camera phone in order to spread public awareness regarding responsible camera phone usage by their customers:

• Camera phones should not be used where photography is restricted, e.g., in museums, movie halls, metro stations, airports, ATMs etc.  Users should be watchful of signs that indicate that photography is prohibited.

• Camera phones should not be used in places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, for example in bathrooms, changing rooms, gymnasiums and swimming pools.

• Camera phones should not be used without the express permission to photograph and/or transfer confidential information.

• Camera phone users should always respect the privacy of others. Camera phones should not be used to take photographs of any person without his prior consent or knowledge.

Contrary to the notion of their being involved in unlawful activities, the benefits of camera phone are undeniable. Whether it is capturing priceless moments of your near and dear ones or documenting your important papers and valuables through camera phone images or taking photographs of your damaged car for insurance claim or storing impressionistic images of the house you will buy or sell, camera phones have indeed become an indispensable part of modern life.

Diljeet Titus and Sumit Roy, Titus & Co., New Delhi