The Japanese brand Tone Mobile offers a rather drastic solution to the spread of nudes without the consent of the person photographed. To this end, it has released the Tone e20, a smartphone that stops you from taking naughty selfies.
Sending a naughty selfie to someone can have serious consequences. Indeed, when the recipient is not to be trusted, an intimate snap can end up on the internet, causing harm to the amateur exhibitionist.
The media often talk about the dangers of revenge porn, and its disastrous consequences on teenagers. Blackmail, harassment that sometimes goes as far as driving victims to suicide — the issue is a cause for concern, and it’s legitimate to want to protect oneself from it.
But going as far as using software to ban every nude self-portrait, is that really a good idea? Wouldn’t it be better to simply inform people of the risks?
The Tone e20: a smartphone that stops naughty selfies
To rein in its users’ urges for nudes, the Tone e20 relies on artificial intelligence. When you take a photo, before saving it, the smartphone analyses it.
If the algorithm detects “inappropriate” content, a breast, a bit of crotch, a backside, the phone refuses to save the photo. Same goes for videos. Instead of immortalising your lovemaking or your masturbation session, the device displays a warning.
What about the accuracy of this image analysis? What happens if you try to photograph a magnificent specimen of urechis unicinctus that you’ve just found on the beach?
This may just be the weirdest thing you've seen today!
Thousands of these marine worms, called fat innkeeper worms—or "penis fish"—washed up on Drake's Beach after a recent storm. 🌊 But why? https://t.co/MwY6xkN3kb pic.twitter.com/vGMpSvGoAT
— Bay Nature magazine (@BayNature) December 11, 2019
It’s also possible to ask this smartphone to stop you from watching videos sent via the instant messaging app. In case you come across some porn. Or a compilation of cat videos that’s a bit too captivating.
Who is the Tone e20 aimed at?
But who would actually want a smartphone that imposes digital chastity on its owner?
As you’ve probably guessed, the Tone e20 doesn’t primarily target an adult audience, but is aimed at children and teenagers. Or rather, at their parents. Its purpose is to protect the youngest against revenge porn and the spread of nude photos. It also aims to prevent potential approaches by paedophiles trying to pick up photos.
If they wish, parents can also set up the device to make it a zealous snitch. In this case, at the slightest attempt at a nude by their offspring, the parent immediately receives a notification. This includes the date, time and geographical location of the incident, as well as a thumbnail, just large enough to determine the nature of the photo without seeing the details too closely.
A bit traumatic for the teenager being monitored like that, perhaps? It’s reminiscent of the Black Mirror episode “Arkangel”, where the use of parental control ends up going wrong.
However, current parental controls are not infallible. It’s likely that a somewhat clever user will find a way to bypass the restrictions.
One can also question the security of such a system. The phone’s official description guarantees, of course, impeccable data protection. But the various hacking cases involving iCloud show that there are sometimes flaws. And a malicious individual who hacked the Tone e20 would then potentially have access to a source of paedopornographic snaps carefully selected by the app meant to prevent their existence.
