Auto camera cover

Several times I've had people get mad at me because they thought I was taking pictures of them with my camera phone without their permission. Sometimes when I'm changing things on my phone, I hold it in such a way where it may appear that I'm taking pictures rather than just changing things. No longer a problem with the Auto Camera Cover. Many digital cameras and camcorders have these already. Basically it's a motorized cover that, well, covers the lens whenever the camera is not in use. The cover is automatically opened when you turn on the camera on your phone, and then it closes again when you turn it off. The cover would be a bright color or just be white, or better yet the same color as the phone, so that it would be clear whether the cover was closed or not. This phone should be one of those that has a larger, more obvious camera, but the cover will match the rest of the phone.

This would also benefit in some places that may allow you to have a cell phone, but where no pictures are allowed. The employees could simply watch for open covers and take the phone, check for "forbidden" pictures and erase them if found, and give it back if they see anyone with the camera phone's cover open.

Yes, the mechanics of the cover may add some bulk to the phone, but I've seen pretty small digital cameras with mechanical lens covers, so the phone could still be small enough to fit in your pocket.

Of course, you could also just buy a phone that has no camera to avoid such nuisances-but that defeats the purpose of this idea :D