Phone cameras are permissable this Sunday at XCon, but the Australian Parliament is taking a dim view about their potential.

Australia- A new federal new law will make it illegal to use mobile phone cameras or the internet to distribute pictures that are pornographic, menacing, offensive or which involve harassment.

The legislation will be introduced in Parliament’s sittings beginning next week.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the misuse of phone cameras was a big concern. “The prime target of this bill is the use of the internet to access, transmit, or make available child pornography,” he said. “That’s punishable by 10 years’ jail.”

Senator Ellison said the new law would also make it illegal to take an offensive photo without the subject’s permission if that picture were then transmitted.

“The taking of a photo using a camera phone would be covered by this legislation if it were used to transmit child pornography or images which were used to menace, harass or for other offensive purposes,” he said. “Child pornography is something we have absolutely zero tolerance for.”

Senator Ellison said that someone taking an offensive picture of a person without permission would be caught by existing state legislation. The federal law would come in once the pictures were transmitted from phone to phone or over the internet.