By Geraldine Maynes
A NEW mobile phone gadget has raised fears it will be a perverts’ dream. The £100 add-on will turn camera phones into X-ray specs which can see through clothes.
It is said to be particularly effective on dark bikinis.
Originally designed for taking pictures at night, it has quickly been exploited by voyeurs.
Made by Japanese company Yamada Denshi, it can be bought on the internet and fitted to high-end phones.
Night-filters are the latest device used by Japan’s obsessive voyeur community.
In recent months, two professors from prestigious universities have been arrested for taking hidden camera pictures up female students’ skirts.
A recent trial of six members of a club specialising in snaps of women on trains revealed the massive extent of the country’s voyeur network.
In particular, Vodafone’s V602-SH handset, not yet available in the UK, is being used with the new gadget.
Vodafone say they are deeply unhappy about the device. It is not illegal in itself – but using it to film people’s naked bodies would be.
The cameras effectively give users night vision by picking up on heat to create outline pictures.
Because bodies are hotter than clothes, the pictures produce an image of the body without the clothes.
Vodafone deny responsibility and have condemned the abuse of camera-phone technology.
A Vodafone spokesman said: ‘This is a third-party device, so our control is limited. Obviously, we would never sell a phone that was enabling someone to see another person naked.’
Yamada insist the see through gadget was not designed for sneaky shots.
A spokesman said: ‘We expected the night-shot function would be used for taking pictures such as a baby sleeping or the fine details of a leaf.’
Two years ago, Sony had to pull a video camera it had released that had a more primitive version of the night-filter.