OPEN MOBILE

Your Phone Is Political

"Apple's bizarre patent"

Apple’s recent patent (the one that switches off your iPhone’s imaging capabilities), if implemented, will give governments and other ‘bodies’ control of your iPhone’s camera and video functions.
via knowyourmobile.com

Word is getting out about Apple's "bizarre" patent for technology that would enable corporations to remotely disable iPhone cameras.

Opposition to this patent -- even if the technology is theoretical -- is coming from all sides. Imagine if the governments of Egypt or Libya had this technology during the Arab Spring, or if law enforcement use it to block documentation of police abuse... It's pretty easy to imagine why this patent is a bad thing.

We're urging Steve Jobs to pull the plug on this technology. Sign our letter.

Apple's New iPhone Censors (Er, Sensors) Are Big Trouble

Apple has apparently filed a patent for software that would sense when iPhone users are trying to use their phone's camera at live events — and disable it. The story has been mostly discussed in terms of how this "feature" would benefit promoters and broadcasters by limiting unauthorized videos of live events.

But my first thought was, "If concert promoters can block smartphone cameras, what's to stop governments from doing the same thing during protests and rallies?"

As we've seen in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere during this spring, images and videos taken with cell phones can be a powerful form of political speech — speech that must be protected at all costs. This photo of Egyptians protesters charging their cell phones says it all:

If we grant governments, private companies and yes, concert promoters the power to block our ability to capture events as they unfold, that power will be abused in no time. Mobile technology is the dominant technology of our time. Our smartphones are extensions of ourselves: They are becoming incredibly powerful tools for communication, education, political expression, community organizing and plain fun.

This fact, combined with Apple's new patent, makes it clear that the mere ownership of an iPhone or an Android phone is a political act. Given the empowering nature of these devices, governments and businesses are all too eager to gain control of everything you do with them. This morning, Bryan Preston of Pajamas Media wrote:

I OWN the phone. Apple has no right to turn it off remotely. This opens up all sorts of disturbing possibilities, especially in totalitarian states, where the company might have an incentive to trade profits for personal liberty.

Meanwhile, mobile carriers are consolidating their control. Verizon and others are blocking smartphone apps they don't like — even if that blocking is illegal — and AT&T is gunning for a takeover of T-Mobile that would create an unprecedented duopoly in the wireless market.

Now is the time for us to declare our independence from mobile carriers and manufacturers, and to make it clear that our access to data, devices, technology and networks — and our privacy — must be protected at all costs.

We're quickly learning that the nightmare scenario of 1984 wasn't just about governments controlling our speech and expression; in 2011, it's about corporations doing it as well, often with the blessing of consumers. Let's nip this one in the bud.

Who cares about mobile privacy?

Thirty-four percent of smartphone users say that they are willing to exchange chocolate for Internet usage on their mobile phone. Forty-three percent would sacrifice drinking beer and 20 percent are willing to give up cable TV.
via theatlantic.com

The Atlantic breaks down a survey from Lookout Mobile Security that shows that, while the vast majority of consumers are concerned about security and privacy on their phones, many of us neglect to actually protect the data on our phones at all.

Cellphone Carriers Face Pressure Over Texting

Growth in the volume of text messaging is slowing sharply, just as new threats emerge to that lucrative source of wireless carrier profits.
via online.wsj.com

SMS is dead. Long live data-based messaging!

Texting is a service that costs next to nothing, yet costs go up and up, and the carriers force us to buy expensive $20 bucket plans if we don't want to get gouged by outrageous overage charges.

Good riddance.

Blocking Skype on mobile phones - this is why we need Net Neutrality

Skype and WhatsApp have received particular attention, as mobile providers argue they must offset the losses caused by these apps with surcharges -- or to block them altogether.
via mobile.engadget.com

Wireless providers in the Netherlands are responding to a possible Net Neutrality bill by threatening to charge extra for, or simply block, apps that offer cheaper ways to make calls and send text messages.

Oh, and they're using deep packet inspection to spy on their users.

If this is what the carriers are doing in reaction to a NN bill, what would they do without a bill?

One more closed, I mean "open," Android hits the market

It seems HTC has finally caved to what are likely the security demands of wireless carriers with its newest phones, and is locking down its handsets Moto-style. Latest case in point: the EVO 3D – which sports the same sort of security we found on the Sensation earlier this month. In other words, good luck cracking into this thing.
via androidpolice.com

The rate at which the hardware manufacturers and Google cave to the carriers on openness is stunning.

Apple might be more closed, but it's done more than any other company to fight the carrier's hold on the wireless market.
Posterous theme by Cory Watilo