-by developing patent to automatically disable iPhone cameras at concerts (and police or government abuse incidents?)

Friday, June 17, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

NaturalNews) As annoying as many are, the steady stream of garbled, shaky video clips of musical concert performances that get uploaded to YouTube every day could become a thing of the past, at least for Apple iPhone users. According to a recent report from Business Insider, Apple has filed a patent for new technology that is capable of automatically disabling iPhones from being able to video record live concerts, which in turn prevents users from violating copyright laws by eventually sharing such videos with others.

The patent, which many see as a major assault against personal freedom, explains that in the presence of certain infrared signals, an iPhone could be controlled by outside sources to shut down its video capturing capabilities. Though posited in light of copyrighted musical performances, such technology could also be used to disable iPhones from filming police abuse scenarios such as what took place back in May at the 2011 annual Wheeler Block Party at Western Illinois University (http://www.naturalnews.com/032318_b...), or the recent case of Miami police who gunned down Raymond Herisse and destroyed a witness' camera phone (http://www.naturalnews.com/032655_p...).

Even the technology's assumed purpose of simply deterring the illegal filming of concerts, however, is disconcerting. If Apple ends up incorporating this type of technology into iPhones, the company will essentially assume control over its customers' personal devices. And if this control gets into the hands of the wrong people, there is no telling the extent to which one's iPhone will literally be controlled and managed by Big Brother.

Imagine if your personal computer (the iPhone is a type of personal computer, actually) suddenly stopped loading websites like NaturalNews, or literally prevented you from watching certain video clips that expose the truth about what is going on in the world (such as those found at NaturalNews.TV), simply because some outside force sent an infrared signal that disabled it, outside of your control of course. This is the type of territory into which Apple is now treading, and it is a disturbing type that deserves concerted opposition both from Apple users and from the public.