Blackberry and silent photos

I just learnt something new....and not classified in my list of totally useless things one should know! I was in church sometime ago (not to say that it was a long time ago) and saw the proverbial church mouse in all its glory.... I mean poverty! I thought to myself, this is a classic "kodak" moment. I whipped out my BB to take a photo to share with my friends later (I am not one to go to Facebook in the middle of the sermon). Just before taking the photo, I checked that my BB was on stealth mode and took the snap....To my shock, my camera shutter sound was still audible and ohhh the embarrassment of all those people turning to see who is taking photos in church!

This got me preoccupied with figuring out how to turn off the shutter sound when I take photos with my BB.....turns out that it is practically impossible, at least not without having to spend some money/time!

On further investigation, its apparently backed by some legal issues! Cellphone manufacturers are required to enable the sound of the shutter on all camera phones...What crap! Which leads me to some unanswered questions:

1. Is it that we are by default considered perverts who will be looking for opportunity to take those silent photos?

2. How come I can take a video clip using the same BB without it making a single sound?

3. I have a fairly small digicam and which gives me the option of shutting off the shutter sound...how legal is that now?

I blame this on politicians (and lawyers....as if there is a difference anyway)!