(FORTUNE Magazine) – Dear Annie: I work for a company that has just adopted a policy banning camera phones at work. Yesterday one of my colleagues had his phone snatched out of his hand by a security guard while he was talking to his 10-year-old daughter. Is that legal? Can an employer dictate what personal property employees bring to work? --Video Head

Dear V.H.: With about eight million camera phones now in use, lots of companies are considering whether to keep them out of the workplace. For one thing, the technology allows employees who have access to customer lists, trade secrets, personal records, or other confidential information to send anything anywhere in a matter of seconds--which surely seems like a capability that employers can't afford to ignore. And what if someone used a camera phone to document, say, safety infractions or harassment? Even companies that hesitate to ban camera phones altogether might want to keep them out of the R&D department. As for whether employers have a legal right, in general, to dictate what people bring to work, for Pete's sake, think about it for a minute. Says James Staulcup, an employment lawyer at Bryan Cave in Chicago: "I'm not aware of any state or federal law that restricts employers from banning cellphones with or without cameras, 'offensive' materials such as nude centerfolds, and other items, for example a hunting knife"--or, heck, an AK-47. On balance, doesn't that seem like a good thing?

Send questions to askannie@fortunemail.com. Annie offers advice weekly at www.askannie.com.