8 in 10 favor removing mandatory camera shutter sound: survey

Eight in 10 South Koreans think they should be able to decide whether to mute or enable their camera shutter sound on their phones, a survey showed Sunday.

According to a survey conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission from Oct. 23 until Saturday on 3,476 respondents, 86.2 percent of those polled answered “yes” when asked if they think individuals should be able to adjust the camera shutter noise settings. Muting the camera shutter sound is disabled for all devices manufactured in Korea.

The anti-corruption watchdog explained that the purpose of the survey is to gather public opinion on the matter, adding that there are criticisms that regulating camera noise is ineffective and outdated.

It also pointed out that only South Korea and Japan regulate camera shutter noises on mobile phones among the 139 countries in the United Nations.

The anti-corruption body submitted the survey results to the Telecommunications Technology Association as a policy recommendation.