To Prevent Upskirts, Japanese iPhone 3G Always Alerts When Taking Photos

Leander Kahney ()

upskirt.jpg

An upskirt warning poster in a subway station outside Tokyo. Photo by Jeff Epp.

The iPhone 3G in Japan has a special feature unique to that country: The camera always makes a conspicuous “shutter” sound when a picture is taken, even when the phone is set to “silent” mode.

The loud shutter sound is supposed to deter voyeurs from taking sneaky pictures up women’s’ skirts — or down their tops.

In Japan, upskirt and downblouse shots have become increasingly popular with the advent of high-resolution camera phones.

As a result, all cell phones sold in Japan make a conspicuous shutter sound, or say the word “cheese” when a snap is taken, according to Nobuyuki Hayashi, a tech reporter based in Tokyo.

On almost all new cell phones, the camera shutter sound can not be muted, Hayashi says.

“Some manufacturers have even put louder shutter sound,” he reports.

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iPhone Perhaps Not a Failure in Japan, After All?

The shutter on the first iPhone sold in Japan could be muted in silent mode; an anomaly that many wondered whether Apple would correct in the iPhone 3G, Hayashi says.

Apple did: The shutter sound cannot be turned off, even in silent mode, Hayashi says.

36 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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  • keith

    hmm. a 2megapixel upskirt photo without flash…. not worth it.

  • Tom

    And that stops Japanese pervs from buying a non-Japanese handset how exactly?

  • Gareth

    Japan has its own cellular network, doesn’t it, not GSM, so foreign phones don’t work there. I think, anyway.

  • http://www.vitamincm.com VitaminCM

    Wow, this adds a whole new meaning to the whole “Jailbreak” thing.
    I’m sure this will be a bullet point in the next “Features” list for the Jailbreak upgrade. “Disable the perv blocker.”

  • Zenmap

    This article is incorrect, the iPhone 3G “is” the first iPhone sold in Japan. What “first” iPhone is the writer talking about???

  • http://twitter.com/sandbaggerone sandbaggerone

    ↑EXACTLY Zenmap!

  • Tim

    Just think how many prostitutes you could have for the price of a jesus phone… (inc’ crab cream)

  • AH

    Down blouse of what? Asians don’t have any tits in the first place.

  • JapSnap

    Cough…click…cough

  • fuck AH

    wow, racism is cool?

  • http://www.youtube.com/daveyork0 David York

    This is absurd.

    How are you supposed to take a picture at the following places if you can’t disable your camera from making a loud distracting or comical sound?:
    * an opera, drama or mime in performance
    * a library
    * a place of silent relection, like a war memorial
    * during an observation of silence such as at a funeral

  • http://www.youtube.com/daveyork0 David York

    … and if there are -already- phones that can take upskirt photos silently in Japan, then obviously if you’re a perv you’ll hang onto or obtain exactly one of those kinds. Duh!

  • http://mobiilemela.blogspot.com trilok

    After clicking by iPhone…a lot has to be left for imagination..:-)

  • Joshua Wise

    This law isn’t new. The Japanese were using camera phones loooong before America had heard of them. And the Japanese law (not a foreign imposed decision) applies to all camera phones. I bought one in 2003 when I lived there and the shutter sound couldn’t be muted, you can choose the sound it makes, but you can’t make it silent.

    The Japanese do use a unique cell phone network, and any phone from another country has to be modified to be able to work there. Truthfully though, I have to imagine iPhone was the first they’d even bother importing. American phones are substandard compared to Japanese phones. I had a cheap pre-pay vodafone with free infinite email and free infinite text messaging. Their higher end models would make your head explode. Though Apple is sure leading the way with the iPhone, and the iPod, the Japanese have nothing on them.

  • american

    i had a camera phone in 2003, josh
    wanna-be azn much?

  • Alex

    He is right. Japanese phones are a few years ahead of American ones. Docomo was the first company to roll out 3G service worldwide (around 2001), and is now testing “super” 3G.

    Joshua’s point was that in 2003 Japan had already passed a law requiring phones to make that noise. Everyone had a phone with a camera in it, and with the camera phone technology everywhere the problem became so common that the government had to pass a law.

    When I bought my first mobile phone in Japan in 2001, every model had a camera in it, and could go online. The higher end Docomo models could go online at broadband speeds.

    When I bought my second phone in 2003 (early 04?) a lot of phone models already had 2 meg (or more)cameras.

  • http://www.myspace.com/psitek Frost

    Interesting,

    So then pervs who want uppy pics of azn girls will just have to attend any Hot Import Nights car show anywhere in the USA and be able to get silent uppy pics without fear of arrest. The girlies at the car shows gladly give up the bendy uppy shots there.

  • monsieurgerard

    Japanese iPhone cams are indeed silence when taking pictures via Twinkle.

  • monsieurgerard

    oh, and whenever headphones are attached, too.

  • slushe

    So what. Cover up the speaker with your finger. Do that you won’t hear the sound.

  • Aussie

    You read my mind slushe (almost). Even if the software (OS) is too difficult to hack in to mute the sound, that doesn’t mean hardware couldn’t be tampered. Now you could either buy a high resolution camera phone and remove it’s speakers for good or… you could simply put a mini switch between the speakers and the hardware enabling the individual to totally mute the phones speakers.

    If I can think of this much with my limited knowledge/experience with mobile phones, I’m sure the Japanese are more than capable of finding a work around.

  • http://www.eco-snob.com Ryan

    Did you see the video where they have people who cram passengers in to the subway cars? So many people, so much noise, how is anyone going to hear it?

    • Bobololo

      You have obviously never experienced the silence on a packed Japanese train.

  • Robotguy4

    Thinking the same thing Aussie.

    @David York:
    “This is absurd.

    How are you supposed to take a picture at the following places if you can’t disable your camera from making a loud distracting or comical sound?:
    * an opera, drama or mime in performance
    * a library
    * a place of silent relection, like a war memorial
    * during an observation of silence such as at a funeral”

    Well… I guess you would do it the same way you would do it with a good old fashioned film camera…

    *click*

    It may be hard to fathom, but there once was a time when cameras naturally made that sound. In fact, if I can remember correctly, they usually made a *CLICK WHIR* sound.

    Maybe it would also help people realize you don’t need to take pictures all the time and document every single event. Do you really need to take a picture during an observation of silence at a funeral (FYI: you misspelt “reflection”)? I thought they usually disallow pictures during performances…

    Ok, I understand the war memorial part, and yes they shouldn’t make the sound too comical, but for the most part it seems fine. People used to put up with a similar noise all the time.

  • rocky

    I don’t understand why n how u guys discussing, even though no one know either 3g have clicking sonud or not. I got new 3g n u can disable sound if u want too. What you only need to do just put iPhone into vibrate……use the top key above volume. but it does not mean u use it like pervert…bc If u will then may be someone take ur family pictures.

  • carloz

    Quote:

    > How are you supposed to take a picture at the following
    > places if you can’t disable your camera from making a loud
    > distracting or comical sound?:
    > * an opera, drama or mime in performance
    > * a library”
    > … etc.

    Erm, how about with a *camera*? Camera phones aren’t the only way to take pictures, oddly.

  • joequincy

    I cannot tell you how annoying it is when I have my phone on silent in my pocket and the camera goes off, making a VERY loud shutter noise in the process. While I understand the thought behind this move, it has also made it extremely inconvenient to take my phone anywhere because it tends to go off during things like weddings, classes, and library visits… and having to go through and delete all the pictures of the pitch-black inside of my pocket is just adding annoyance to embarrassment.

  • Joe

    The shutter sound only happens after the picture is already taken. What good will it do? Nice attempt and idea, but it won’t deter those really eager guys out there.

  • gomer

    Hold your thumb over the speaker holes, as good as muted.

  • http://www.myspace.com/straightouttacharlotte josh

    why not just use a digital camera, i have seen digital camera’s the size of a cell phone

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Florian-Turgeon/1279477062 Florian Turgeon

    Haha that’s true

  • http://twitter.com/4strokesingle Kevbo

    Confused……”The shutter on the first iPhone sold in Japan could be muted in silent
    mode; an anomaly that many wondered whether Apple would correct in the
    iPhone 3G, Hayashi says.”

    Is Hayashi saying that there was an iPhone sold in Japan before the 3G that could be muted? That’s odd because before the iPhone 3G, there was the GSM-only iPhone which was never sold nor even works in Japan.

    Then there’s the 3G, which was never sold in Japan, either. Japan’s first iPhone was the 3GS.