Here's a story with a bit of big brother attached to it.
It seems that Apple (and I'm an Apple fan) is seeking to protect copyrighted material in a rather unique way. This unique protection involves a way to sense when a device owner is attempting to record a live event by either audio or video and then disabling that function. This would, in effect, prevent the concept of "bootlegging" live events. The concept is that the camera or microphone would be automatically shut off somehow thus effectively preventing the user from recording the event in any way.
The concept, of course, is to protect artists who might be doing a pay-per-view event or broadcasters who have paid a premium to broadcast the event live.
However, my question is "would you rather watch a cheap low res image from a cell phone, or a professionally done hi-def production that was created by professionals"? For me, there is no contest at all. I'd gladly pay a fee to see or listen to the professional version as opposed to the amateur one. Now if I'm a college student and I can't afford the professional, I might watch the amateur, but that's only because I couldn't afford the other. That means I either watch the free one or I don't watch at all.
I think that the artist or whomever is being recorded would benefit somehow by allowing the "free/amateur" feed because it at least keeps their name/image in front of an audience that otherwise would get no exposure at all.
I also question "what if there was a robbery or a riot or some other type of crime where taking photos or video could be gravely important?" This system would eliminate the potential for evidence.
Apple should give some serious consideration to the consequences before implementing this system. I'm just sayin'...
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