{"id":19638,"date":"2015-07-14T19:56:42","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T11:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/superzoom-camera-can-literally-shoot-the-moon-but-will-it-have-a-creepy-dark-side\/"},"modified":"2015-07-14T19:56:42","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T11:56:42","slug":"superzoom-camera-can-literally-shoot-the-moon-but-will-it-have-a-creepy-dark-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/superzoom-camera-can-literally-shoot-the-moon-but-will-it-have-a-creepy-dark-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Superzoom camera can literally shoot the Moon, but will it have a creepy dark side?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_187114\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-187114\" style=\"width: 620px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-187114 size-full-width\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/P900-620x186.png\" alt=\"P900\" width=\"620\" height=\"186\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-187114\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The zoom ability of the P900 is other-worldy. Three frames taken from the same spot. (NikonUSA.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The latest techno-sensation is about a camera with, quite literally, other-wordly capabilities. The newly released Nikon P900 is a point-and-shoot that might as well be a telescope. The first consumers to get their hands on the thing are posting jaw-dropping videos of the camera zooming in on the Moon \u2014 yes, the Moon \u2014 with enough detail that you can identify individual craters. &nbsp;If you haven\u2019t seen this demonstration yet, stop what you are doing and watch now.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"New Nikon coolpix P900 83x optical zoom world record - video test on moon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cyh9JsOZuf8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To quote my friend and superphotographer Anthony Quintano: \u201cWow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At only $600, with a remarkable 83x optical zoom, the camera is an incredible breakthrough. Putting that kind of zoom power into everyone\u2019s hands is sure to create a new avalanche of super-zoom, super-close pictures on your Facebook timeline and Instagram feed. But not *quite* yet. The P900 is such a sensation that it\u2019s sold out everywhere, and there\u2019s a pile of back orders.<\/p>\n<p>But is there a dark side to popularizing the superzoom? And I don\u2019t mean the Dark Side of the Moon.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h4>MORE FROM BOB SULLIVAN<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled\">\n<li>\n<p>As AI enteres the real world, it\u2019s going to crash into the Plateau Effect<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Artificial Intelligence needs a police blotter. Wait, it already has one!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Disarm AI, yes, but Pope Leo XIV was just getting started \u2013 a tech journalist reads Magnifica Humanitas<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Look at the demonstration above. It\u2019s amazing that you can shoot that surfer from so far away \u2014 from a distance that is just about invisible to the naked eye. &nbsp;Think about that: You can shoot him, but he can\u2019t see you. &nbsp;Your mind might be wandering where mine has now. Is it a good thing that people with cheap-enough-to-be-in-everyone\u2019s-hands equipment can use it for spying? Or worse? &nbsp;What are the privacy implications?<\/p>\n<p>The gadget hits me squarely between two worlds. &nbsp;As a journalist and sometime photographer, I know the importance of&nbsp;liberal photography rules. &nbsp;Anything that begins to approach the notion of limiting rights to take pictures quickly approaches First Amendment territory and potential suppression of free speech.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, I write frequently about privacy issues and about the unintended consequences of technology. It\u2019s easy to imagine the P900 being used by peeping Toms or others who would violate privacy.<\/p>\n<p>Holly Kearl, an expert in gender-based violence who runs the nonprofit Stop Street Harassment,&nbsp;is concerned about the distance the P900 places between a&nbsp;photographer and subject.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe camera will \u2026&nbsp;make it much harder for a person being illegally photographed to know about it, or if they do find out about it \u2013 perhaps if the perpetrator posts it online \u2013 to know who took it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_187123\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-187123\" style=\"width: 344px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-187123\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/nikonp900.png\" alt=\"nikonp900\" width=\"344\" height=\"305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/nikonp900.png 517w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/nikonp900-300x266.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/nikonp900-200x178.png 200w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/nikonp900-113x100.png 113w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 344px) 100vw, 344px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-187123\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nikon P900<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So I took those&nbsp;concerns to photo law expert&nbsp;Mickey H. Osterreicher, the lawyer for the&nbsp;National Press Photographers Association. The last time we spoke, he helped me&nbsp;explain the rights of professional and amateur photographers when filming law enforcement officials in public places.&nbsp;That\u2019s a fairly simple question: It\u2019s legal to film police in public as long as the person filming isn\u2019t creating a nuisance or a public safety hazard. Of course,&nbsp;sometimes&nbsp;cops break the law, so there are real-life nuances to that question.<\/p>\n<p>The use of superzooms creates a slightly different problem, though on the surface, the law is also&nbsp;simple: People in public places surrender their expectation of privacy, so taking pictures of them is fair game.<\/p>\n<p>The superzoom creates&nbsp;a different problem than the filming of cops, however:&nbsp;\u201cFor this purpose what is of more importance is where the subject of the photograph is standing rather than where the photographer is located,\u201d Osterreicher said.<\/p>\n<p>Filming someone through their living room window, when they have an expectation of privacy, probably breaks the law. That\u2019s not new. Thanks to peeping Tom laws, it\u2019s illegal in most (but not all) situations&nbsp;to use a telescope or binoculars to watch someone inside their home (without a court order), and has been for some time. Most laws are even stricter about prohibiting recording of images under such circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>And even if the subject of a picture is in public, the photographer\u2019s First Amendment rights are not absolute.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a photographer does with those images may get them into trouble. If the images were used for advertising purposes or posted online in such a way as to embarrass or defame the person might lead to a lawsuit,\u201d Osterreicher said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"icon-quotes-left\"><\/span>&nbsp;Where the legal discussion gets murky is when cameras are used in public places to take pictures of what are obviously private things.<span class=\"icon-quotes-right\"><\/span>If this discussion sounds vaguely familiar, that might be because the very same debate is well under way in the realm of drone photography. Inexpensive drones have enabled unsavory characters to fly the gadgets close to hotel windows&nbsp;or over seemingly private backyards, and catch women in the nude. &nbsp;The same rules apply with drones, of course: filming people without their knowledge when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy&nbsp;is generally against the law.<\/p>\n<p>Where the legal discussion gets murky is when cameras are used in public places to take pictures of what are obviously private things. &nbsp;So-called \u201cupskirt\u201d photos, while&nbsp;obviously detestable, aren\u2019t obviously illegal. &nbsp;Numerous&nbsp;state laws banning the practice have been struck down as unconstitutional, and while legislators wrestle with ways to word new laws, technology keeps making their jobs more difficult. &nbsp;It\u2019s easy to imagine superzoom cameras enabling creepy pictures of women in public places, and it\u2019s hard to imagine how to construct a law that satisfies the demands of privacy and the demands of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s nothing new either, warns&nbsp;Osterreicher in a paper he wrote recently about the drone issue:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMisgivings by the public over new technology are nothing new. Camera-equipped Small (weighing less than 55 pounds) Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) may well be considered the great prodigy of the Kodak Brownie, which in 1888 spawned its own form of public hysteria. For the first time in recorded history this camera\u2019s portability and flexible film (celluloid) with greater sensitivity to light allowed anyone to take photographs in public places rather than requiring the controlled seclusion and long exposures previously only found in a photography studio. The sudden appearance and widespread use of the Brownie caused the public to react with fear. Many places posted signs banning the use of cameras, and newspapers ran stories about the dangers of public photography.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Compared to birth of easily portable photography, the appearance of relatively inexpensive superzoom cameras is a pretty incremental step forward in this privacy-vs-freedom of expression tension. &nbsp;Still, it\u2019s&nbsp;important to&nbsp;have the discussion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is infuriating that some people choose to abuse amazing advances in technology \u2013 like the P900 Nikon \u2013 to harm others and violate their rights,\u201d Kearl said. \u201cLaws, policies and law enforcement do not always keep up with these laws. \u2026&nbsp;A few months ago state legislators I met with did not know what upskirt photos were. I think legislators and law enforcement agencies need tech advisors to help them with the ever-evolving technology and how that technology may be used to harm others so they can always respond appropriately and proactively. Also, it would be great to see more tech companies be proactive and involved in addressing and ending harassment and abuse to the extent that they can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The zoom ability of the P900 is other-worldy. Three frames taken from the same spot. (NikonUSA.com) The latest techno-sensation is about a camera with, quite literally, other-wordly capabilities. The newly released Nikon P900 is a point-and-shoot that might as well be a telescope. The first consumers to get their hands on the thing are posting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4895,21],"class_list":["post-19638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-science","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}