Here is a proposed law that we know Ars Technica readers will just love. It's the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (H.R. 414), introduced into Congress this month by Representative Peter King, Republican of New York. The bill's text says that Congress has found that "children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone."

What's King's solution? One year after the passage of the Alert Act, all mobiles with cameras made in the United States must emit a "tone or other sound audible within a reasonable radius of the phone." And the legislation would forbid manufacturers to program an option that would allow consumers to disable the noise.

If King's proposal was actually enacted into law and signed by the President, it would be enforced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, whose staff would have to figure out what kind of "tone or other sound" to force manufacturers to hotwire into their devices. The CPSC would also have to determine the aforementioned "reasonable radius."

Ars thinks that if Congress is actually going to take this bill seriously, at least consumers should be able to select the sound. This might prove to be popular with youngsters. As Jacqui Cheng has reported, a recent survey of over a thousand teenagers and young adults (13 through 26) revealed that a fifth of the teens queried have posted a digital photo or video of themselves in their complete or partial birthday suits on the Internet. A third of the latter group have done the same. These pix tend to get sent to boyfriends and girlfriends, or in some instances friends and admirers.

No doubt these kids would enjoy being able to choose a ringtone to associate with their cell phone camera shutter. Various tunes come to mind, including Britney Spears' E-mail my heart or R.E.M.'s Camera--something along those lines. But, of course, any self-respecting teenage exhibitionist would find these suggestions annoying. They should be able to choose their own clip.

As for politicians and parents who are worried about surreptitious cell phone camera users lurking around in dressing rooms and parks, they might want to, well, watch their children. Just a thought.

Don't hold your breath waiting for this proposal to catch on. King's bill is currently lodged in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It has no cosponsors.