The latest salvo in the war on information.
Apple is working to patent the ability for a phone to respond to a location and allow a 3rd party to take control of a phone.
It will be marketed as a feature and convenience, but will further chip away at what I should decide for myself, not left to an unregulated corporation or government entity.
Video after the squiggle.
Youtube Video by Timcast
Paraphrase for those who can't watch the video. Apple's patent allows 3rd parties to control a phone based off of physical location. Marketed as a way to stop people filming concerts, or using their phone in a movie theater, what is it really doing?
Brief summary at C-Net
The marketing will be spectacular. It'll tout the benefits. Movie theaters will be quiet again, people on the freeway will have their texting disabled, businesses with sensitive information have no need to worry about phones stealing their upcoming project.
It'll allow the potential for someone else to decide how you get to use your phone.
It isn't far fetched with this technology to imagine that twitter, cameras, and even texting will be disabled at protests in areas with more centralized media controls. How useful would this have been in Egypt, Syria, Libya to those governments? Heck how much would Governor Romney liked to have this ability at his fundraisers?
Laws and regulations here will need to catch up, and fast. The technology will make it harder for many people; whistleblowers recording workplace transgressions, protests, political conventions, and heck even getting pulled over could turn off the recording functions and camera abilities of the phones.
The cynic in me thinks we will be lucky if we get something on page 13 of the cell phone contract, or buried in the small print from ticketmaster when we buy a ticket that they have the right to take control of our phone (but also no responsibility if they brick the phone). More likely I think it'll just happen without any notification.