Filed under: iPhone
If you've got an iPhone, but for whatever reason - you're in the military or you've got some sort of weird phobia - you need to have the camera removed, you're in luck. For just a hundred bucks, iResQ will do the job for you. The fee covers 3-way shipping (a box to you, then iPhone to iResQ and back again) and the work. 
To remove those little icon utility menus in the upper-right corner of your screen, simply hold down the Command (Apple) key and drag the offender out of the menu bar and onto a blank area of the Desktop. Poof! No more icon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark said 12:10PM on 7-04-2007
After spending so much money on the iPhone in the first instance, instead of shelling out another hundred on it, why not just ram a jeweller's screwdriver into the lens?! Either way, you're going to be left with a knackered camera and a gaping hole in your shiny new iPhone - you may as well save some cash, no?
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Graham Hall said 12:52PM on 7-04-2007
I'll keep the camera. :D
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freeskihp@gmail.com said 12:59PM on 7-04-2007
pssst... a dab of sharpie will do it
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thefireguy said 12:59PM on 7-04-2007
Who in their right mind would spend $600.00 for a iPhone with built-in camera and then go out and spend an additional $100.00 to have the camera neutered - even a crazed republican would do such a thing!
And believe me the republican party is full of nuts these days!
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Reid said 1:14PM on 7-04-2007
would it void the 1 yr warranty on the battery?
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Paul Tigan said 1:14PM on 7-04-2007
Some people have to go places where cameras cannot go. Federal Courthouses, for one. Nuclear Submarines, for another.
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Quix said 1:17PM on 7-04-2007
"And believe me the republican party is full of nuts these days!"
It's not Republicans that can turn a simple tech blog post about an iPhone camera into a political rant. Who's the nut again?
Try to keep the political blathering out of technology news. Thanks.
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basscadet said 2:04PM on 7-04-2007
in case EDGE doesn't reach us down there, do nuclear submarines have WiFi?
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(01) said 2:22PM on 7-04-2007
Well, I don't think that me and Quix would agree on politics, but as far as posting random political comments on a Tech blog site.... I gotta agree. Anyway, do they offer to replace the camera with anything? More memory, n-draft wifi...If not, I'd go with the sharpie route. I mean, who wants to send off their iPhone less than a week after they got it?
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rt said 2:47PM on 7-04-2007
right - because someone who has security rules will trust you when you say you paid to have the camera disabled.
that's not how these things work. devices which are not acceptable are listed as such and your arguing that yours is a 'special case' will cut exactly no ice at all.
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Lerxst said 2:49PM on 7-04-2007
In such top-security places where cameraphones are not allowed, I am not sure whether simply saying "yeah, it's an iPhone, but I neutered the phone, see" would work, either. Probably the big security guy will tell you "sorry, no cameraphones, leave it here" just as usual.
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Lerxst said 2:53PM on 7-04-2007
...I mean, "neutered the camera".
Not to mention that even if you DO manage to convince security and let your iPhone in, people will give you such horrified looks everytime you pull it out "OMG, he sneaked in an iPhone, this is forbidden!" that it won't be worth the trouble...bottom line is, if you work in such place and MUST have an iPhone for the times you're not there, just get 2 phones...
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Benjamin said 3:08PM on 7-04-2007
As a member of the military in possesion of secret clearance, I can tell you right now that 'neutering' your iphone will not allow you to take it anywhere it would otherwise be banned from.
The phone itself is a security liability, simply because it is a communication device. On top of that, electronic snooping devices can easily be hidden within other more ubiquitous devices.
And on top of all that, the reason that we are often not allowed to carry cellphones/pagers is because they are not certified for hazardous environments (anywhere near aircraft, machinery) and can become a FOD (foreign objects/debris) hazard.
-b
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digitalintrigue said 4:01PM on 7-04-2007
If you have to visit a federal courthouse that often, why spend $100, just get a free second phone without a cam.
And with the iphone being the most talked about phone of all time, everyone knows it's got a camera. Ya think they'll believe you when you say it's been removed? ;)
Also, +1 to Quix.
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Pun B said 5:41PM on 7-04-2007
Benjamin @ 13. Exactly. If you have appropriate mil clearance and an OK electronic environment, such devices will not keep you out. They might be thinking about commercial environments, in-house theaters at Lucasfilms, Pixar, etc showing a pre-released movies to critics.
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Charles Miller said 6:18PM on 7-04-2007
There are different levels of security. I did some consulting work at an aerospace firm once upon a time, and I had to leave my camera-phone at the front desk. Phones without cameras were fine.
I'm pretty sure if I'd explained to the guy at the front desk that the camera had been disabled (and showed where the lens used to be), I'd have been able to take it in.
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kooky said 8:20PM on 7-05-2007
actually, it could happen in the right circumstances.
there's an apple certified reseller who neuters the wifi and isight
cameras in apple laptops for use by the national labs and no such agency (s). they provide a certificate and anti-tamper labels w/ serial numbers.
and interestingly enough, the navy allows the use of WIFI networks aboard
ships.
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ptorretto said 11:55AM on 7-13-2007
The camera is the thing the will keep me from owning an iPhone. Working at a National Laboratory, security disallows me from bringing any camera on-site. It's been difficult enough just finding a standard cell phone without a camera. Hard to justify purchasing an iPhone when I'd have to leave at home 5 days-a-week. :-(
Phil
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