Late last week news broke of a new patent that Apple was awarded for a system that could force your iPhone or Smartphone into disabling its video-recording functions at concert venues.
The system uses infrared signals to send messages to your phone to tell it to shut down video recording. Apple's patent illustration shows a phone at a concert with the words "recording disabled" on screen.
It's no secret that some artists, like Adele, aren't huge fans of people recording their shows. Adele is definitely the most outspoken having actually stopped a show to ask a fan to stop recording at a recent show in Italy.
This past weekend we provided you with extensive Live coverage, including video, of the Trackside Music Festival in London, Ontario. Our live, and recorded video, coverage has been a major hit with our readers and followers netting more and more viewers every time. But it's not just us, almost everyone these days has a smartphone, GoPro or other device capable of recording decent video could you imagine a show where that wasn't possible? With concerts and events becoming more and more social with the advent of social media, particularly apps like SnapChat, Periscope, Instagram and Facebook Live I believe an invention like this will have major detrimental effects on live events in the future.
Now granted, like everything ever designed to stop people from doing something it likely won't take long until there's a way around it whether it be jailbreaking your iPhone or rooting your Android device or simply blocking the IR sensor on your device (worth noting that iPhones currently do not have an IR sensor).
Then there's the other aspect of this type of technology...what if it's not just limited to concerts and events? Could this be a limitation to our freedom of speech? Could Government's use this technology to prevent filming at rallies? Or are we all just taking this a little bit too seriously?
What are your thoughts? Share them with me on social media or in the comments below. If you want to read the full patent document you can do so on the USPTO Website.
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Field Service Tech by day, Live Music Nut by night! My family and I call the Thousand Islands region of Ontario home. I'm a blogger, social media geek, tech, and live music fanatic. I founded Sound Check Entertainment in 2010 to help promote festivals and emerging artists from across Canada and the world! I now act as festivals liaison, manage media relations and, of course, cover events in the National Capital region. I'm also a diehard Habs fan but Sens fans fear not; as long as they aren't playing against my Habs I cheer just as loud for the Sens.