So here's the article. The question is, why did they get that patent?
Miriam
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iCensor: Apple Patents a Remote 'Kill Switch' for iPhone Cameras
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/icensor_apple_patents_remote_kill_switch
_for_iphone_cameras_20160714/
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Posted on Jul 14, 2016
By Nika Knight / Common Dreams
"Free speech rules don't apply to Silicon Valley," a civil liberties
advocacy group has observed. (Ian Higgins / flickr)
This piece first appeared at Common
Dreams(http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/30/icensor-apple-patents-rem
ote-kill-switch-iphone-cameras) .
Owning an iPhone could someday mean being blocked from recording anything
that someone in power doesn't want you to record.
That's the potential ramification of a patent
granted(https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/30/apple-iphone-came
ra-disable-remote-sensors-patent) to Apple earlier this week for technology
that remotely disables iPhone cameras by infrared sensors.
While Apple's patent application uses the example of a rock band preventing
audience members from recording a concert, since the application was first
submitted back in 2009 observers have
noted(https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/apples-infrared-camera-kill-switch
-patent-application-hits-a/) that the technology could also be used by
police(http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/apple-latest-approved-patent
-disable-camera-article-1.2693262) , repressive governments, and anyone in
power to stop citizens from recording abuses of power and other injustices.
The patent was approved despite thousands of signatures on a
petition(http://act2.freepress.net/sign/stop_apple_camera) seeking to block
the technology from being developed.
"Here's the rub. The First Amendment and Article 19 of the U.N.'s
Declaration on Human Rights don't really apply to the corporations that
build these cellphones and run these social networks. Free speech rules
don't apply to Silicon Valley,"
wrote(http://www.freepress.net/blog/11/06/22/apples-pre-emptive-strike-again
st-free-speech) the civil liberties group Free Press back in 2011, and
Apple's "cellphone camera kill switch can be used as a pre-emptive strike
against free speech."
Approval for the patent was also granted amid increasing use of smartphone
technology to record abuses of power, whether that is everyday citizens
recording police brutality(https://vimeo.com/124336782) , House Democrats
recording their sit-in for gun control
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHZvFMRdi9A) after Speaker Paul Ryan shut
off C-SPAN cameras, or peaceful protesters recording
assaults(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4) by police.
Critics note that it's not hard to imagine police officers disabling all
iPhone cameras in the vicinity before taking any action-whether legal or
illegal-against people.
Technology website Engadget
illustrated(https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/apples-infrared-camera-kill-
switch-patent-application-hits-a/) the argument with a potential situation:
"Picture this: You're out for a stroll on the streets of Vancouver when
suddenly you find yourself caught up in a depressed mob of hockey fans. Riot
police are striking a young man with their batons near a squad car. You pull
out your iPhone to capture a video of this seeming abuse of force-only to
see a flashing message on the screen that says 'Recording Disabled.'
It's also not hard to imagine Ryan having disabled all iPhone cameras in the
House to subdue media coverage of the sit-in: "If the Speaker of the House's
office controls when C-SPAN's cameras are live, it's not a stretch to assume
it would control when iPhones can work," as the Guardian writes.
(https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/30/apple-iphone-camera-disa
ble-remote-sensors-patent)
And critics observe that it's much more difficult to pursue justice when no
record exists of an injustice happening in the first place.
While Apple garnered praise from privacy activists for its
stance(/news/2016/02/18/privacy-activists-rally-around-apple-most-important-
tech-case-decade) against the FBI when the government agency sought its
help in unlocking a phone owned by one of the San Bernardino shooters, it's
also been pointed out that technology companies don't have a spotless record
on civil liberties.
Indeed, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden(/tag/edward-snowden) "is skeptical
of the motives of tech companies,"
according(http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/edward-snowden-life-a
s-a-robot.html) to a recent profile in New York Magazine.
"Corporations aren't friends of the people, corporations are friends of
money," he told the magazine.
Nika Knight is a staff writer at Common Dreams.
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