Apple’s New Patent Will Stop Video Recording During Concerts

Since the introduction of phone cameras, the number of people who recorded videos while attending concerts, movies, and even school plays has skyrocketed. These days, it’s not uncommon to see the majority of a crowd holding up their phones during a live performance, blanketing the grounds with a sea of glowing screens. In an effort to end this trend, Apple has just filed a patent that will help organizers prevent video recording during concerts.

Supposedly, the technology will involve the use of special infrared signals that will instruct phones not to record anything, according to Digital Trends. It will also trigger a pop-up when users activate their phone’s camera when in places like museums and trade shows. Supposedly, companies other than Apple are also working on similar technologies, with Google being one of them.

Naturally, this will cause no small amount of controversy among iPhone or iPad users who are fond of recording performances live, posting them on Facebook and then promptly forgetting about them. However, there is no guarantee that Apple will actually use the technology.

PC Mag counts as one of the publications that are skeptical about Apple’s intention to use the technology to block video recordings during concerts, particularly because the patent was filed back in 2011. The publisher argues that Apple would have surely come up with a better way to apply the technology by now, after five years of working on it.

More than that, many users can be incredibly resourceful and would likely find a way around the restriction in the first place. One of the things they could do is to simply block the infrared sensors that would still need to be installed. It would be easier than just reprogramming their phones, which they could also do.

Finally, there would be the argument that Apple might go too far and start blocking users from recording videos in other places.