Because they are so small and inexpensive, mobile phones with built-in cameras appear to be defying the ban imposed on them in this country. The ban has proven a great opportunity for pirates, who sell the phones at exorbitant prices. We really have no choice but to go along with this technology, especially when it has challenged us and won; this has been true since the dawn of the first electric light.
We are not alone. The world at large is at war with new science. Cloning is one such issue. Some people reject it both morally and to protect the human species; others see it as a necessary development to meet our growing needs. A second battle is over genetically modified foodstuffs. Some believe that it is a catastrophe threatening nature’s very existence; while for others it is the greatest victory in the history of mankind and the key to eliminating poverty.
These issues confront the whole world, though the challenges change as the understanding of societies changes. To this day the Amish, a Christian group living in America, refuse to modernize. They ride horses and use neither electricity nor the telephone.
Our issues are many, but the most famous is the dishes that have appeared on our rooftops to receive satellite channels. Most governments in the region ruled that ownership of such equipment is a punishable crime. Some recanted — the Saudi government for example cancelled the $130,000 penalty on violators that was imposed in 1994. This was wise, because the technology had long outrun the law. The dishes shrank in size from four meters to only 60 centimeters while their price dropped from SR60,000 to less than SR1,500 with all the accessories. Some succeeded at fighting the technology — Saddam’s regime, for example — but the price was high as Saddam inflated the penalty, making beheading the punishment for possession of satellite dishes, Internet access and fax machines. Iraqis knew nothing about satellite channels until Saddam’s regime was toppled last spring. Iran also bans the technology but is not as strict, and the battle is ongoing. Dishes constantly go up and helicopters fly over Tehran’s rooftops to hunt them down.
The latest chapter in the story is the battle over mobile phones with inbuilt cameras. Some say the Saudi government banned them after complaints by citizens. This, however, didn’t stop the cameras from getting into the country; it just made the pirates richer. These mobiles have meanwhile become widespread.
The reality is that the Saudi government cannot impose the ban strictly unless it wants to turn into a police state, and that is very unlikely. Truthfully, these camera/mobiles don’t rate such ardor in banning them, as there are cameras legally on the market that are much smaller and cheaper and take better pictures. Banning the phones doesn’t mean that the technology isn’t present in the country.
That brings us back to the essential point, which is that preventing abuse of technology must be done through education, not through prohibition. Most people use the camera attachments on their phones for good purposes, some are useful to engineers and doctors and homebuyers, others use them for innocent communication. Only very few people misuse them.
