Safe Haven protects from prying eyes

By Simon Aughton

Posted on 15 Sep 2003 at 16:03

A UK company is currently beta testing a new technology that could prevent unwanted use of camera and video phones.

Iceberg Systems' Safe Haven uses a patent-pending, wireless-based technology to disable phones' camera components whilst they are in a designated Wireless Privacy Zone. The camera cannot then be used until it goes outside the zone.

Although much has been said about the use of such phones in areas where children are present, particularly swimming pools, Iceberg's managing director Patrick Snow said that many businesses are very concerned about the use of such phones for corporate espionage. Some large firms, including car manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, have banned their employees from using camera phones whilst on the premises. In South Korea, ironically, phone manufacturers have prohibited their use in R&D centres.

As well as preventing cameras from functioning, Safe Haven will enable organisations to monitor and log when this happens, and Iceberg is also working on enabling the software to locate where phones are when they're disabled. The company also hopes that in future the software will be able to give instant warnings if camera phones are switched on only after they have entered the privacy zone, although these will still be disabled.

Snow stressed that this is not a (potentially illegal) jamming system. All non-photographic functions will still work. Nor does the technology make any permanent change to the phone. It merely temporarily disables the camera. As soon as the phone is outside the privacy zone, it will work normally. How they do this, said Snow, remains a closely guarded secret.

Iceberg hopes that they will have a commercial product available during the first half of 2004. Pricing will depend upon the type and size of each installation, though Snow hopes that the company will be able to offer discounts for education establishments.