I remember a while back Apple filed a patent that allows concerts to disable iPhones cameras if a certain signal is emitted from the stage. Apple never implemented this, but my pessemistic ass always try to think of worse case scenarios, like being used by government. Do you think this could occur in the future?
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36672001
You can search “Apple Concert Disable Camera” and find more about it.
Idk, that seems like a difficult technical and political challenge, so I don’t think that’s very likely.
However, what I think is much more likely to happen is cameras detecting copyrighted content and not recording it. Or automatic instant takedowns of copyrighted content when the video is shared. Then, all the government would need to do is play copyrighted music when they don’t want you to record.
Oh wait, this is already happening [1] albeit not commonly or to an extreme extent. But really, this is why we need to be very careful about technological enforcement of laws. It can lead to unintended (or intended) negative consequences to civil liberties. And its also why its critical for your devices to always be acting on your behalf, and not for the government or corporations.
1: https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/1/22558292/police-officer-video-taylor-swift-youtube-copyright
The political difficulty of implementing this will vary highly depending on the country. Technically, while impossible to enforce 100%, even if it is 90% effective it will be very effective at covering things up. The main accountability benefit of phones is the ubiquity, because everyone has a phone. If a fraction of people have workarounds it won’t be nearly as effective.