Live data from Hacker News

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

petapixel.com

41–50 of 77 posts

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

#41
post #10

> 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…

>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.

> Plane hijackings are pretty rare, yet we have TSA screening and no liquids over 100ml on flights.

Without wanting to sound too sarcastic, it’s possible there might be an implication going on there.

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

#42
post #27
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is from the same country that prohibited blood in video games in the 90s. I had a copy of Duke Nukem that I picked up from some street vendor in Seoul that was identical to the American one, but all of the blood was colored white. I'm not sure that seeing a monster's head explode in a shower of what I will generously refer to as "milk" did anything positive for my moral alignment.

This isn't much stranger than US American TV replacing "bad words" with beeps.

I would guess one outcome of that was a significant increase in bad words used on non live TV. Since they'll be beeped out it's not really big deal anymore.

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

#43
post #14
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…

Yes locking the doors == good

Making me buy over priced water == Security theater that does nothing for safety

We do not need to be illogical about it, extreme government over reach should not be excused when a simple door lock was all that is needed

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

#44

> 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…

> 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

It was and is extremely common. It's happened to my partner, many of her friends and has been an issue for years. And is not just contained to cell phone cameras but hidden cameras in general. Public bathrooms are such a hotspot that many women fear using them.

Not sure if it's an issue involving a lot of men or just a smaller more active group. But there is a lingering issue with how young Korean men think of women. For example in a poll, 76% of men in their 20s oppose feminism:

https://www.theglobalist.com/south-korea-anti-feminist-young...

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

#45
post #29

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.

iOS uses geofencing. Android typically uses the purchase region.

Android wins again!

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

#46

> 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…

I remember hearing in South Korea about some US Soldier being imprisoned over a dispute where he repeatedly photographed a young woman, explicitly against her consent. Some countries give you a right to your own image. This comes up often in Germany, where privacy law is very different from the US.

I know that in the UK, you can photograph everything that you can see in the public....not sure about rest of the Europe but I suppose laws are liberal as well. In the US, it probably differs from state to state.

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

#47

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...

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

Think of for example quiet libraries with a bunch of students quietly studying. They do not like other people making noise, however legitimate the reason is.

> you can record a video...

Video recording also has a mandated start/stop sound, FWIW.

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

#48
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.

> Plane hijackings are pretty rare, yet we have TSA screening and no liquids over 100ml on flights. Without wanting to sound too sarcastic, it’s possible there might be an implication going on there.

I'm pretty sure any attempted plane hijacking after 9/11 would result in the hijackers getting mobbed by passengers.

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

#49
post #13

> 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…

> 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?

I wonder if it's less a single action of taking one photo, but the collective noise of lots of people taking lots of photos.

With film photography people were be restrained with the cost of film and photo development, whereas now there's no restraint and lots of people take lots of photos of the most mundane things. I can imagine the noise and distractions of 'click, click, click' in public spaces, events, gatherings etc. An always on chorus of 'click, click, click,click, click, click,click, click, click'.

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

#50

> 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…

> 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 It was and is extremely common. It's happened to my partner, many of her friends and has been an issue for years. And is not just contained to cell phone cameras but hidden cameras in general. Public bathrooms are such a hotspot…

[flagged]
Post reply on HN