I remember a while back Apple filed a patent that allows concerts to disable iPhones cameras if a certain signal is emitted from the stage. Apple never implemented this, but my pessemistic ass always try to think of worse case scenarios, like being used by government. Do you think this could occur in the future?
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36672001
You can search “Apple Concert Disable Camera” and find more about it.
Haha, what a great idea! I love it! Sending me a signal about things you don’t want me to record!
I would build two things. First, an antenna that detects and (using multiple copies) locates these signals on a real time, public-access map.
Second, I’d build a security camera with a wide angle lens that turns ON whenever this signal is received.
Sure, 90% of people don’t know how to do these things – but I do, and I can put them in a store and the results on a website. Most people know how to buy a thing and plug it in, or access a website!
Then I’ll manufacture a ton of them at a factory here in Vietnam, and you will be able to buy them at a reasonable price. I’ll make a tidy sum, pay a bunch of taxes that will build highways and schools, and you’ll have more freedom than you started with.
We all win!
Tim Apple has joined the chat.
Sure, why not? It would probably be good fun to talk product development with the CEO of Apple.
Then maybe I can take a look at their implementation and see if I can secure it (standard consulting rates apply). Apple has a lot of good engineers, I bet they already know about the trivial stuff, so I could get right into the interesting problems.
I mean, a naive implementation uses bluetooth LE, but presumably users could just turn bluetooth off (among other problems). I can think of better implementations that don’t require radio or internet to work. I think a smarter approach would be optical or audio encoding. That would make it reliable in concerts (where lighting and sound are tightly controlled), but not reliable enough in most police-state contexts (where lighting and sound are not tightly controlled). Fine tuning it further to ensure that it only works in the context of concerts should be pretty easy.
I haven’t read the patent though, I don’t presently have access to BBC.
I think you dropped a 9 or two.
I’m some sort of mercenary science hermit. So take any statement I make about human beings with a grain of salt :D
Science hermits unite!
I’m less successfully mercenary, though, so I know what I assume is a representative sample of tech muggles. Having thought about it, 1% of people could figure this out, and maybe 0.1% wouldn’t have to use other people’s tools to do it.
Hm, uniting people in general is like herding cats. Uniting hermits? Sounds hard. I’ll stick to science :D
Being mercenary is largely overrated – better to try and live a calm and happy life filled with friends and family.
Many opinions have been offered on whether the most valuable attribute in warfare (and by this I mean business) is loyalty or bravery, but few people are willing to admit it’s actually just hunger.
So you are just describing a security camera?
The camera part would work as a normal camera, sure. However, the fact that it would turn on whenever it detects the ‘don’t record me’ signal is an additional feature that provides context to the video recordings and also logs all times the signal is detected and used.
So similar to the way other popular security cameras provide new features, e.g. a camera that only records when motion is detected.
Anyway it’s something I literally just thought up in 15 seconds. Obviously it would be unreasonable to expect a polished, viable, feature-complete product idea. Which are a commodity in any case :D