Microsoft’s manners masterplan: Why we’ve brought it on ourselves

Friday, June 13th, 2008

So, Microsoft wants to be able to silence your mobile at will… I like it.

Let’s begin where all good stories should. Microsoft has filed a patent for a technology it’s calling Digital Manners Policy which would basically tell your phone what features could be used in certain situations. For example, enter a cinema and DMP would automatically shift your phone to vibrate mode, so the ringing doesn’t disturb others watching the film. In a museum it could disable your camera, stopping you from photographing rare portraits. If somebody robbed a bank, they could presumably hack the DMP to stop outgoing phonecalls – but that’s neither here or there, really.
(more…)