That's true. I have not been able to find any specific reference to the illegality of disabling camera phone sounds in the USA. It's illegal in Korea and several other countries. Since many phone manufacturers sell the same phones in different countries, they may choose to comply by not allowing the sound to be disable on ANY of their phones.
Rather I am taking a picture of a sexy female to sho w my friends or someone I know I REALLY just dont want to hear that sound. I have it disabled on my digital camera also.
What I wonder is why there is no way to make it so NO sounds come out of the BlackBerry at all...like the switch from the Palm Treos. That is EXACTLY what these devices need. The camera sound only bothers me when I am trying to take a photo in a quiet place...one in which I would have the phone on silent!