February 8, 2004
Third article about camera phones and identity theft
Alan Reiter is keeping taps on the latest (alarmist) articles warning shoppers that thieves could snap photos of shoppers' credit cards. I agree with Alan when he says "If you've read one article you've read them all. And none of the articles provides any proof that this is easily done. You can take a good enough photo but you have to get close to the card, the lighting has to be bright enough enough and neither the card nor the camera must move to ensure a sufficiently sharp photo".
One of Picturephoning's readers posted a comment after taking a picture of his own credit card and here is what he has to say: "Hah. You can't even tell what BRAND of credit card it is, much less the numbers. Distance was just out of arm distance to the credit card, since I assume I would be standing right behind the rightful owner.
Related article: Phones are criminal's paradise.
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