The AP ran a story about a week ago describing the ways that new cell phone cameras are being put to use in Asia – hardly seen here yet, there 25 million of the devices are already in use in Japan. One of the unintended consequences from the adoption of this technology is digital shoplifting — taking pictures of magazine pages in bookstores, for example.
Minako Yamashita, a 32-year-old housewife who uses her cell phone to take pictures of her children, said she has witnessed people sneaking photos in bookstores and acknowledged a temptation to do it herself.
“I can understand,” she said. “But I’d never do it.”