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Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

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Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#31

Post by mcny »

jjcm wrote: post #24

This is one of my pet peeves about iOS as well. You’re able to customize and disable sounds of every noise the phone makes except the camera shutter. You can place the phone in silent mode to disable it, but doing so will obviously disable every other sound as well. Interestingly this also applies to screenshots. This typically leads to this learned behavior now whenever I’m taking a photo or screenshot: Silence phon…

You can’t even set the sound volume of music for example in a game separately from the volume of your alarm. If I want to lower the volume while I play a game or a YouTube video, I have to remember to increase the volume before I fall asleep.

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#33

Post by gnicholas »

TheRoque wrote: post #26

What's funny is that's it's not about "Korean smartphones", it's about "smartphones on Korea". A friend of mine bought an iphone in France, and when she went to visit Korea, it started doing the shutter sound. It's just purely based on the localization! Same applies if a Korean moves abroad, I assume.

It sounds like people have differing experiences with foreign phones being used in Korea. [1] Perhaps it is based on what SIM card you have installed, as one redditor suggested?

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/14el5lr/phone_shutte...

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#34

Post by cubefox »

gruez wrote: post #9
underseacables wrote: post #2

Could this not be removed on an Android phone, or is Android in SK locked down to prevent this?

At the very least it can be removed by physically disabling the speakers. So any software measure (eg. locked bootloaders) isn't really worth enforcing too hard.

"Physically disabling" how? Opening the phone and disconnecting the speakers? In my phone the earpiece acts as a second speaker, so calls would no longer be possible either.

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#35

Post by gamblor956 »

goranmoomin wrote: post #19
guraf wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> while unnecessarily degrading user experience across society? Does a shutter sound really degrades the experience unless you were indeed trying to take a stealth photo?

As a Korean, I can say definitely so. A common example that I can give is when you want to take a photo of a document for future reference (or maybe even PDF submission) in a quiet office or room. I can definitely say that the mandatory shutter sounds create a lot of awkward moments.

That moment shouldn't be awkward if you have a legitimate reason for taking that photo.

And if you really need to record the document for other reasons (like whistleblowing), you can record a video...

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#36

Post by earthling8118 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #35
goranmoomin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Korean, I can say definitely so. A common example that I can give is when you want to take a photo of a document for future reference (or maybe even PDF submission) in a quiet office or room. I can definitely say that the mandatory shutter sounds create a lot of awkward moments.

That moment shouldn't be awkward if you have a legitimate reason for taking that photo. And if you really need to record the document for other reasons (like whistleblowing), you can record a video...

Awkward isn't the right word here. It's a distraction or annoyance.

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#37

Post by lotsofpulp »

EA-3167 wrote: post #14
gruez wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1. My mind is blown that this oddly specific behaviour was apparently so common that the government mandated all cellphone cameras must play shutter sounds that cannot be muted. What the hell? You're missing the other possibility: incompetent politicians writing bad polices to respond to the latest moral panic. Plane hijackings are pretty rare, yet we have TSA screening and no liquids over 100ml on flights.

The rarity of plane hijackings is balanced by the decades of harm they can do, even beyond the obvious death and destruction. 9-11 for example led to 20 years of ruinous war, trillions wasted, and many lives lost, not to mention geopolitical realities which led to even more death and loss of money. Taking extreme caution to prevent a recurrence of that, not to mention protecting lives and a whole industry, probably d…

> 9-11 for example led to 20 years of ruinous war, trillions wasted, and many lives lost, not to mention geopolitical realities which led to even more death and loss of money.

9-11 led to cockpits being secured. The rest was politically motivated, and does nothing to prevent a recurrence of 9-11.

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#38

Post by 1-6 »

One time, a random stranger shot pictures of my little daughter at Costco. I confronted the creep and also reported him to the staff. Costco staff couldn't do anything about it but the manager offered to escort our family around. I appreciate every little tool to keep pervs away from ruining a good thing.

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#39

Post by chatmasta »

gnicholas wrote: post #28
EForEndeavour wrote: post #6

> South Korea has a problem with unwanted, clandestine photography relating to upskirting and when mobile phones were introduced, authorities moved to stop perverts from taking photos of people without permission. 1. My mind is blown that this oddly specific behaviour was apparently so common that the government mandated all cellphone cameras must play shutter sounds that cannot be muted. What the hell? 2. Do third-p…

Also: what if someone starts a screen recording and then opens the camera app?

In that case you may as well just take a video, which I'm assuming doesn't constantly make the shutter sound.

Re: Korean Smartphones Have Mandatory Shutter Sounds, 8 in 10 Want It Muted

#40

Post by mrkramer »

EForEndeavour wrote: post #6

> South Korea has a problem with unwanted, clandestine photography relating to upskirting and when mobile phones were introduced, authorities moved to stop perverts from taking photos of people without permission. 1. My mind is blown that this oddly specific behaviour was apparently so common that the government mandated all cellphone cameras must play shutter sounds that cannot be muted. What the hell? 2. Do third-p…

Isn't public photography legal? It can be creepy but it is legal, at least in the "democratic" west. And btw all modern cities have cameras all around it so you can easily catch creeps if they cross the line of legality.
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