Can the government use the new Apple patent to shut down recording of public events?

[eridani]

http://www.examiner.com/article/apple-granted-patent-to-control-iphones-sparking-fears-of-a-big-brother-future

Last week, Apple was granted patent # 8,254,902 which according to the filing is “Apparatus and methods for changing one or more functional or operational aspects of a wireless device, such as upon the occurrence of a certain event. In one embodiment, the event comprises detecting that the wireless device is within range of one or more other devices. In another variant, the event comprises the wireless device associating with a certain access point.”

In short, this technology provides a means to control certain functions of the device (ie: iPhone) based on certain conditions such as entering an area defined by a wireless signal. In the filing, Apple provided the following examples of such usage.

As wireless devices such as cellular telephones, pagers, personal media devices and smartphones become ubiquitous, more and more people are carrying these devices in various social and professional settings. The result is that these wireless devices can often annoy, frustrate, and even threaten people in sensitive venues. For example, cell phones with loud ringers frequently disrupt meetings, the presentation of movies, religious ceremonies, weddings, funerals, academic lectures, and test-taking environments."

[TeamPooka]

1. the revolution will need to be phoneless and it will not be televised either

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Only if the recording device supports it

Unless there is some sort of mandate that requires it, why would any recording device manufacturer include it?