Apple Receives Patent On Technology That Will Block People From Taking Video At Concerts

The days of watching a concert through your phone may soon be over, if Apple has their way.

As reported by 9To5Mac and Patently Apple (via Consequence of Sound), the tech giant has received a patent for new technology that will block your iPhone from recording video or taking photos in certain situations, specifically concerts. Using infrared technology, your phone would be essentially blocked by a sensor in the room, rendering your camera unusable while in range of this device.

The patent includes a diagram of how the technology might work, which you can see below.

While this technology seems to be meant for a live concert setting, it certainly raises mixed emotions. First of all, any technology that might force people to act a certain way is dangerous, and fully disabling part of most concert-going fans’ cell phone sets a scary precedent. Some people might want to just stop people from recording video during a concert, but this technology seems like it could be used for much darker purposes and raises a lot of moral issues. What’s to stop a police officer from blocking all recording devices in range while acting corruptly, or a criminal preventing detection by shutting down all nearby camera phones? Specifically, who will be able to get their hands on this technology that blocks recording devices?

It will be interesting to see how this progresses. With technology like this patent, and with companies like Yondr developing cases that lock your phone in a case while within range of a concert venue, it seems that we could soon see a major shift in the way we interact with our cell phones at concerts.

Welcome to 1984.