By Jo Best, 25 October 2004 16:05
NEWS A phone that lets you see through clothes is the stuff of teenage boys' dreams - and now it's a reality in Japan.
A third party developer in Tokyo, Yamada Denshi, has developed an add-on to Vodafone handsets, intended to be used as a night filter to allow Big Red's customers to take pictures with their phones in the dark.
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Unfortunately, the night vision camera has an unexpected side effect - in the right circumstances, it allows users to see a lot more than they bargained for.
As well as taking snaps in the dark, the Yamada Denshi infrared filter sees through people's clothes.
When attached to a high-end camera, the device can give the effect of seeing through some garments it depends on how easily infrared can penetrate the fabric in question - and is reportedly particularly effective on dark bikinis.
The handset most often used with the £100 filter - the V602-SH - is only available in Japan.
A Vodafone spokeswoman confirmed the peeping Tom accessory isn't a problem in the UK. She added that Yamada Denshi is a third party supplier, Vodafone's control is limited. "They are not an approved third party," she said.
"We would never go to market with a phone with any kind of capacity to see people naked."
Camera phone technology has long prompted fears of voyeurism, leading several gyms - and even some Scottish schools - to ban picture phones in case they were used to take inappropriate pictures.
Voyeurism with camera phones became such a problem in South Korea that the government legislated the phones must make a noise when pictures are taken.
Comments
There are 22 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
I dont believe it but would like to see it. If it would detect heat or the human body I think it would be very useful in other ways also.would kike to have any info that is available.
Thank you.
2. anonymous
I wonder if the same hardware could be used to take pictures of confidetial documents through peoples bags
3. anonymous
I love this comment: "We would never go to market with a phone with any kind of capacity to see people naked."
I presume they don't sell any WAP or GPRS phones with a color screen? or allow people to share pictures... etc..
4. Mark SPLINTER
recycled story. don't panic. if you use an IR filter in daylight you can see "through" very thin clothes. but it's not very satisfying, it's low resolution, it's not colour, it hardly ever works because the sun has to be in the right place etc etc.
if you keep your confidential documents in a bag thicker than a summer dress you will be fine. As for voyeurism, soon everybody will be taking photos instead of living and there will be nothing to take photos of any more. Already in nightclubs there are people with their phones taking rubbish pixellated photos of other people dancing, when they should be dancing.
5. anonymous
Yeah, that was my first thought upon reading the article - What, so you wouldn't sell a phone with image viewing software?!?
6. Vodafone SMS-ads victim
No naked people, eh?! Vodafone DIDN'T say that they'd refuse all income from the burgeoning 3G porn market, did they?! If a camera media needs no processing (unlike the 'old' film cameras) then all digital cameras (including camera-phones) can be used for 'Polaroid parties' i.e. up-the-skirt/down-the-pants pix. Ipso facto, Vodafone camera-phones WILL be used to send porn pix - that's what 3G is all about! That's reveneue that Vodafone et al are counting on! Business use? Pah!
7. anonymous
Confidential documents ? If it's IR technology, then I guess it depends on how hot they are !!
8. anonymous
god help the little boys and girls from all the perverts out there now.
9. Dharmendra
Every move has positive as well as negative effect. Same phone which can be used to see people naked may be used for various medical and detective purposes.
I feel that self control is the best control. Enough porns are on web and those who want to see them they see but those who hate that culture, they hate. Its all about self control and web world is the best example for same.
10. anonymous
I live in Milwaukee. I don't want to see these people naked.
11. anonymous
Sounds perfect for airport security .. in carefully screened boots and securely fixed into walkthrough frames of course.
Can I patent this idea ???
12. royston
if you need to spend that much money to see through peoples clothes then they must be very sick individuals any ways, and very desperate for kicks. apart from juveniles who would think this is funny. and as for the bikinis, you dont need to see through them, the tiniest modecome of imagination will do that for you anyway as modern bikinis arent worth wearing they are that small( not that i,m complaining ) this ir filter has been known for years and is well known. some one has "discovered you can do it with a camera phone, whoopdie doo! who the hell cares,jeez they are sick in the head.
13. a peeping tom
Paris Hilton style night-vision is not really good whack-off material. Now, if they made this in true color perhaps I will buy me one.
14. anonymous
nothing new, old night vision video cameras did the same when use in the daytime and most newer ones can be esily modded
15. maverick
actually, sony had the same problem with it's early night vision camcorders. it simply used a different frequency of infrared light to solve the problem. shame.
16. anonymous
When will companies like Vodafone grow the balls to acknowledge that nudity and phonesex lines underpin their industry. The first use of any new technology is pornography, just look at the VHS and video camera industries
17. deepsand
I work for Vodafone & can say that this is totally untrue.
Nothing has been developed to do anything like this.
18. Mark Koch
Guess it's not new. Certain eye glasses can just do that. What's the big deal, anyway?
"Action speaks louder than words"
19. Mark Koch
Guess it's not new. Certain eye glasses can just do that. What's the big deal, anyway?
"Action speaks louder than words"
20. anonymous
if you do a google search with the safe search turned off - in images - for Britney Spears with see through filter - you'll see what this filter does.
21. I pwn u
W00T! This phone seems to be L337! Where can i get such pwnage phone!
22. yea602
can anyone tell me where or how i can get one