Introducing iCensor: Apple Is Patenting Technology That Will Cripple Its Devices When They Are In the Proximity of ‘A Concert or a Classified Facility’
June 3rd, 2011Forget Apple’s sycophantic entertainment industry boot licking for a moment. Will agents of the state have a kill switch on recording devices as well? Apparently so.
The patent itself, U.S. Patent #20110128384 uses the phrase, “classified facility” as an example of a venue where the devices would be crippled.
(Can you hear that sickening sound? That’s Cheney squealing with joy over this as he rolls in his own slop.)
Don’t ask me how this crippleware will get installed on non Apple digital cameras and other devices, but it will probably involve suitcases of cash and hookers and a number of senators. Hmm. And maybe an appeal to public safety???
Obomb-ya can get up in front of his teleprompters and talk about how we need to innovate and partner with industry to foil the attempts by al Qaeda to conduct surveillance on government buildings, etc. etc.
It’ll be grand. And once Obomb-ya finishes up, why not go for a quick Cinnabon before Dancing with the Stars comes on?
Via: U.S. Patent #20110128384 :
In some embodiments, infrared data can be received and an electronic device can modify a device operation based on the infrared data. For example, an electronic device can disable a function of the device based on received infrared data. In some embodiments, a transmitter can be located in areas where capturing pictures and videos is prohibited (e.g., a concert or a classified facility) and the transmitters can generate infrared signals with encoded data that includes commands temporarily disabling recording functions. Accordingly, devices near the transmitter may be able to detect images to receive the infrared signals and the commands encoded in the signal but those devices may be unable to capture pictures or videos because of the commands.
Related:
Apple Working On a Sophisticated Infrared System for iOS Cameras
Once in a while, I read something here that makes my hair stand on end, my heart race, and my stomach turn towards the turlet. This one did all that and an Irish jig. Now I’m not the sort of person that tries to record stuff with my phone (in fact I’m not the sort of person who has a phone, but I was given one, and it’s neat to have a computer in my pocket. less neat that I need to fear it), but just following the train of technology I’m pretty darn certain you’ll see these infrared ‘killer’ devices installed in every squad car – get pulled over, phone stops working while they take it and plug it into their squid.
Old school technology is looking cooler and cooler.
Yep, same here. This one stood my hair on end. That doesn’t happen much anymore.
I got an email from someone who told me that this post was “it” for him.
I don’t republish what people write to me without their permission, but he wrote words to the effect that he’s going to sit in a dark room and rock back in forth for the next couple of days.
Here’s a comment I’d refer people to who feel the same way:
For many people, Cryptogon is like a rubber hose that beats them numb. That’s definitely not my goal. At this late stage of the game, I simply want to help people step out of the way of whatever clear and present danger might be showing up on their doorstep here and now, or maybe a few weeks or years from now.
There’s no point, though, in taking it in too deeply. The good news is that time away from these themes can feel like being reborn. I hear from people who had read Cryptogon for years, and report to me how their quality of life improved dramatically since shutting out this type of information.
These aren’t cases of ignorance is bliss. This is strong medicine. Too much, not properly assimilated, is poison. If it’s not useful to you in some way, if it’s not helping you attain a goal, if it’s depressing you to the point of debilitation, cut it loose. Please, cut it loose, for your own good.
We were mostly out of touch with mainstream media for about a year of travel back in 2008-2009. It bothered me at first, but after awhile I realized how much happier I was – happier to be out of the US, happier to be far enough away from all the crap coming down the pipeline, far enough away to feel isolated from the effects of the 2008 presidential election, divorced from the stream of horror, depression, and mindless saccharin that is the modern western news media.
Cryptogon depresses me many times, but it’s also a constant reminder and a goad to get up and DO something about the situation that we’re in, and that is rapidly getting worse.
I appreciate the efforts you put out Kevin. I don’t know that I’d be able to do it and not go nuts.
And yes, this post chills me through to the bone. Your phone is on when they want it, and off/crippled when they don’t. The police state is in your pocket, and you are paying for it. A nice future, no?
Zeke