Apple to 'ban iPhone gig filming'
veteran polycounter
so apparently apple is developing a way to detect if you are in a event/gig and auto disable your phones camera to stop you from filming it. supposedly it uses infrared sensors to detect where you are and turns off the camera. This is fucking atrocious if you think about the repercussions of this kind of thing happening.
how about disabling your camera at protests/arrests being made/any type of large public event where people could be stabbed, shot or cracked in the head by police or military so there is no quick way to document any of the hundreds of daily atrocities happening around the world?
here is a link to the story:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3641676/Apple-to-ban-iPhone-gig-filming.html
one of the comments below the story pretty much sums up my thoughts on it:
"If they can cut off the cameras at these events, they can at a political rally. How about individual police cars have similar devices and can cut off video stopping filming of their arrests. The possibly for abuse is endless."
how about disabling your camera at protests/arrests being made/any type of large public event where people could be stabbed, shot or cracked in the head by police or military so there is no quick way to document any of the hundreds of daily atrocities happening around the world?
here is a link to the story:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3641676/Apple-to-ban-iPhone-gig-filming.html
one of the comments below the story pretty much sums up my thoughts on it:
"If they can cut off the cameras at these events, they can at a political rally. How about individual police cars have similar devices and can cut off video stopping filming of their arrests. The possibly for abuse is endless."
Replies
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/06/apple-patents-iphones-with-infrared-sensors/
also it is pretty easy to find the infrared sensor and cover it, since it is just light.
It's just a patent, there's no indication that they'll actually go through with it. ( considering how easy it is to block )
In the case of the band, they would have to spam their audience with IR and hope it doesn't get blocked... No bout you can buy a iJam from Apple for the sweet price of $99,999 and it will totally fail to thwart your fans from remembering your concert and passing around free viral marketing.
Its not that simple. Google will be pressured to do as much as well. Dont think they wont either. Verizon has already pressured Google to drop router programs to disable sharing wifi signals from Android devices in Android Marketplace.
Its this disregard you show that allows such things to happen because your too focused on whats in front of you.
Where things get complicated is that 'get an Android' isn't much of a solution; you're just jumping from a multi-billion dollar corporation famous for blatantly shitty behaviour to a multi-billion dollar corporation slightly less famous for their increasingly shitty behaviour.
So then the answer becomes... well there is no answer, and that's why it's not simple. Get an Android is a good one for now, until "leave Google and get an [X]" replaces it, and "leave [X] and get an [Y]" replaces that.
If it were only that simple. You see the IR sensor they use is in the photo chip of your camera. The only way to block the IR is to get an IR filter or cover you camera, thus losing your ability to use it. An IR filter might work, but you have to be sure you get the right one so you filter the right light waves.
It's about speaking with your wallet.
Remove features or limit functionality? That's alright, as customers we can protest by going with another company.... and it's the only real type of protest that companies' will take notice to.
That option is growing smaller by the day. Companies are immensely anti-competitive and put a lot of money and effort into making sure they are among only a handful of companies to choose from, weakening the power of your vote. Nowhere is this more expressly exhibited than with internet service providers. Most areas only have two, while many only have one. If ISP A is abusing their customers and B is abusing them in another way, is that really a choice? Are you really voting with your wallet?
At that point we could...I don't know, say protest peacefully? At best flip a toy car or two or release roaches in the offices of said companies, both work.
Man oh man. That's obviously the worst thing ever! What'll we do?
Oh. Watch live shows, again, I suppose.
I'm sure the military would love to stop the videos of them killing/murdering civillians from being made, or perhaps add an IR transmitter to a cop car so they can savagely beat someone. without phones, what you see 90% of people taking pics or vids with because its so readily available for when shit goes down to document.
you might say oh its only Iphones, there are cameras and andriod and everything else to still take pics and vids. ok, but the thought of being able to control the documentation of anything is what scares me. once that starts to happen other technologies will develop to start controlling/limit us more and more. would it really be that hard to imagine something like a sonic transmitter that vibrates a cameras lens to distort the ability to use a normal camera in a "dead zone" or attach to a humvee where they dont want people filming/taking pics?
accountability should work both ways, I am sure people will be arrested from pics taken of them doing stupid shit at last nighs riots, why should someone be able to choose when it suits them best to have film footage be availiable ?
North Korea is doing just fine today.
I'd say you should be worried about your home-nation turning into a police-state before every camera is equipped with this maybe-tech.
And even in that scenario there are a gazillion landfill-amounts of older cameras without the tech.
And when those are gone? Or too obvious and confiscated? Thats the point he is trying to make. Technology like this can be abused by nations. Even if your home-nation you feel will not. You cannot speak for all nations, and experience has shown other nations DO want to keep dissent hidden.
So Apple is unintentionally allowing repression from governments.
Besides, who really wants to watch a youtube concert shot from a phone? I mean, have you guys seen em? They are shit. Shakey, with warped sound and background noise. Much better to wait for official ones.
That's the thing, when your government is basically North Korea, and all those gazillion cameras, phones, dsi's, 3ds's and whatever have all been confiscated, people start worrying if (in their oppressed country) if their new super expensive iphone will be blocked next time they use the camera?
They'll be more likely to shoot you for pointing the camera.