Apple Wants "Kill Switch" for Camera Phones

Apple is developing software that can detect when iPhone owners are using their cameras and disable the function, a report last week discovered.

The technology would trigger an infrared sensor, like the kind that is often installed at concert venues, which would instruct the iPhone to shut off its camera. Apple filed the patent application 18 months ago in California, but only became public knowledge after the Daily Mail uncovered the documents.

Apple said the company created the software to prevent users from recording and distributing videos of live concerts to which broadcasters have already bought exclusive rights. But media reform groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Free Press have said that the "kill switch" technology carries with it a more ominous implication - such as what would happen if a government received access to the software.

The technology "could potentially be used to suppress legitimate speech." Government access to the software is also particularly dangerous in countries in the Middle East where new media served an important role in several revolutions against oppressive dictatorships, EFF staff attorney Julie Samuels said.