This isn't a law, it was a voluntary agreement between the carriers to make all phones they (the carriers) sell have a permanent shutter sound. This was done to stop the moral panic due to "upskirting" on subways/etc.
Since Apple sold iPhones only through carriers initially, they complied with this agreement.
A better example of this would be Apple disabling FaceTime on phones sold in the UAE, which is the result of a law, and the feature stays disabled even if the region is changed from/the phone is removed from the UAE.
These things are quite obviously very different and I can’t find a way to read this in good faith (except perhaps from an extreme libertarian point of view), let alone in a good light.
One is a law requiring phones to try to alert people whose privacy is being invaded in some circumstances.
The other is a law requiring phones to invade people’s privacy in some circumstances.
I think it is quite reasonable to follow the former, just as it could be reasonable for laws to require phones to broadcast tsunami warnings or meet various antitrust requirements.
> One is a law requiring phones to try to alert people whose privacy is being invaded in some circumstances.
A law that restricts my freedom to customize my device. Plus their privacy was being invaded from the moment that I looked at them, taking a photo would not change anything.
> just as it could be reasonable for laws to require phones to broadcast tsunami warnings
These new voyuer laws in Australia are obviously much more severe, but there is precedent for a company to customise phones by jurisdiction.