Friday, November 09, 2012
He ain't heavy, he's Big Brother
News:
Apple has patented a jammer or 'kill switch' that can be used by cops to disable all Portable Cellular Telephonic Devices in an area.
Therefore I suspect disrupting isn't quite the full goal here. Smart governments don't want to eliminate all communications, because that leaves them 'deaf'. They'd rather be able to listen and pick up connections by traffic analysis.
One thing we can be sure of: There won't be any mass boycotts or abandonments of Apple products. Leftists who normally worry about foreign sweatshops don't worry about Apple because Apple is cool. Leftists who think everything should be free have no problem with Apple's monopolistic pricing because Apple is cool.
Earlier dictators weren't smart enough to figure this out. First establish yourself as the coolest thing in the world, then you'll be totally immune from all objections and protests and lawsuits. You can do absolutely anything you want.
¶ 3:12 AM
News:
Apple has patented a jammer or 'kill switch' that can be used by cops to disable all Portable Cellular Telephonic Devices in an area.
The new technology would act as a 'kill switch' for smartphones, disabling any cameras on the devices and blocking their connection to mobile networks.If disrupting is the goal, this is unnecessary. An old-fashioned brute force jammer would do the job just as well. Rig up a powerful transmitter for the band used by iDevices; set it to sweep continually and randomly across all relevant freqs. That will disrupt all communications in the area, in a way that can't be counterhacked at the software level.
Apple stresses that the function would be most likely used to prevent copyright theft, such as in cinemas, or to stop phone cameras being used in inappropriate places, like department store changing rooms.
However ... the company adds that 'covert police or government operations may require complete blackout conditions'.
Therefore I suspect disrupting isn't quite the full goal here. Smart governments don't want to eliminate all communications, because that leaves them 'deaf'. They'd rather be able to listen and pick up connections by traffic analysis.
One thing we can be sure of: There won't be any mass boycotts or abandonments of Apple products. Leftists who normally worry about foreign sweatshops don't worry about Apple because Apple is cool. Leftists who think everything should be free have no problem with Apple's monopolistic pricing because Apple is cool.
Earlier dictators weren't smart enough to figure this out. First establish yourself as the coolest thing in the world, then you'll be totally immune from all objections and protests and lawsuits. You can do absolutely anything you want.
¶ 3:12 AM
