Could Apple Stop You Filming Concerts With Your iPhone or iPad?

[Maura]

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[FONT=&quot]The UK’s Daily Mail newspaper reports on a patent application filed by Apple 18 months ago and unearthed by The Times newspaper this week, which it says aims to stop you from using your iPhone or iPad to film concerts. Apparently the software would sense when someone was trying to record a concert event on their iPhone, triggering infra-red sensors that had been pre-installed at the venue, and simply switch of the phone’s camera to prevent filming. According to The Mail, the software outlined in the patent application would be so precise that it could switch off your phone’s camera, but leave all the other functions and apps fully working, so you would still be able to make calls or text with your phone, just not use the camera.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Anyone who has been to a concert recently will know that it has turned into a sea of smartphone screens held aloft towards the stage, and I even saw an iPad held up at the front of a huge stadium gig in London last week, but The Mail says that the sometimes obstructed view is not the main reason that Apple is thinking about disabling iPhone cameras at concerts, and that the real impetus behind the move comes as a result of complaints by broadcasters that HD-quality videos of events that they have brought exclusive broadcasting rights to are appearing on YouTube. Or, The Mail says, Apple could even be thinking of charging people to film concerts. Of course the patent may never even see the light of day, it’s just one of many applications that Apple files all the time. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Source: Apple files patent to block iPhone users from filming live events with their smartphone | Mail Online[/FONT]

 

[Gregoris]

ouch! not that i ever go to concerts but apple really like to restrict its users.. thats if they implement something like this.. and of course jailbreak will provide a fix as always

 

[bab2010]

That's crazy if apple comes to do that. I can't believe it. I buy a ticket for the concert so what? I should be free to record part of the concert and show it to the kids once back at home since they couldn't go to the concert. Apple is going to lose a lot of clients if the company dare going down that road, plus i will not really use my iPhone or iPad to record a concert in the night since the quality won't be that great when recording a video in the night. I would use a proper video camera like canon or Sony video camera whatever to record a good quality of a concert in the night, since those canon, panasonic, Sony etc... Aren't doing this, why is apple scheduling on it? iPhone is a phone, the camera video recorder us a plus, making a restriction on it doesn't really make any good for nobody, apple included. They will free fall if China for sure even if there is a fix for it in cydia since not all iPhone owners do jailbreak.

 

[N4N113]

Thats bull... If they implement this, they will def. Loose ALOT of clients trust me, i mean what are they thinking? Theyll want to control our lives in a couple of years.. Wtf, it just pisses me off the direction and aproach they are taking, as for a jb, well yeah it will probably fix those control freaks... I mean I enjoy my iPad2 and iPhone 4 alot but actions like those make me think twice on buying Apple products again...

 

[bab2010]

Thats bull... If they implement this, they will def. Loose ALOT of clients trust me, i mean what are they thinking? Theyll want to control our lives in a couple of years.. Wtf, it just pisses me off the direction and aproach they are taking, as for a jb, well yeah it will probably fix those control freaks... I mean I enjoy my iPad2 and iPhone 4 alot but actions like those make me think twice on buying Apple products again...

Correct, it does make people mad to know that you will buy a phone with a restriction on the camera. Where apple thinks he's going to? Near the small exit door? And what going to be restrict next? Audio recording???

 

[jkhonea]

I'm not condoning the patent, by the way, this is just a patent. But have y'all looked closely at the concert venues you're at? I believe every one that I've ever seen restricts the use of cameras and video. So essentially, it's something you shouldn't be doing in the first place.

Just something to think about. And at this point, this is nothing more than a patent. A smart one, actually, because the music industry itself is cracking down on a lot of things. Pictures and videos from concerts are on the list. Apple is simply positioning themselves to capitalize when the music industry wants to take THEIR restrictions seriously.

 

[Qdiddy]

Yes the concert ticket says that you can't record and redistribute and blah blah blah, the thing is you punish individuals and not the masses. What people don't realize is that these little stepping stones of " oh well they just blocking pics at a concert" are the blind eyes that lead to bigger restrictions later. Once the precedent is set there is no turning back.

 

[jkhonea]

They aren't implementing anything yet. All they are doing is applying for the patent. That is a business move, not a legal or civil liberties move. That is simply smart business. If they didn't apply for it and the technology, someone else would. This way, if anyone else wants to step up, they will have to go through Apple to either buy the rights or work around it. It's a smart move. Unless I missed it, nothing was said about implementing, only applying.

 

[bab2010]

They aren't implementing anything yet. All they are doing is applying for the patent. That is a business move, not a legal or civil liberties move. That is simply smart business. If they didn't apply for it and the technology, someone else would. This way, if anyone else wants to step up, they will have to go through Apple to either buy the rights or work around it. It's a smart move. Unless I missed it, nothing was said about implementing, only applying.

Well they are implementing the patent now for a later use for sure... and like it has been said above, once they do it for camera, they will keep on doing it until it comes to bigger stuff. I know that they will end up applying that rule on iDevices.