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Turning a Blind Eye to Big Brother
SiliconRedox writes: "An article in the NYTimes (user reg.) details what many of us who have worked with video or electronics have known for quite awhile: Shine a laser beam (or infrared, but the article doesn't get into that) at a video camera, and you can effectively blind certain viewpoints of the camera. The article follows one man trying to cope with the surveillence society by removing his own image from everyday video footage using this technique. The most interesting part? What kind of culpability does the individual or institution have in utilizing this kind of technology?"
We had high school busses with cameras. Well, a lot of us would take ruby lazers and shine it at the camera. For some reason, it could never record right.
Ow! My Vision!
so the x10 camera i put up in my bathroom can be twarted by anyone with a laser??? what a jip
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
I bet he has scopophobia (the fear of being seen) :)
Hell, just think what damage Saddam could do to orbiting US spy satellites if he had a half-decent laser and some idea of where to aim it.
Hey, maybe in light (pun) of this guy's antics, the RIAA will now lobby congress to outlaw all laser diodes over a certain wattage (in the name of "homeland security" you understand). This would make CD writers illegal. Look Ma, no piracy problems!
Oh, dear, there are too many good ideas in this thread that the fringe-lunatics could grasp onto.
Yes, if people want your reflected photons they damn well better be prepared to accept ALL of them, artificial or not. Speaking of that, you could theoretically transmit the terms of a license over the laser beam to REMOVE these people's rights to your image. Of course, you cannot do this with actual people, but such is life.
Buying a Dell computer is equivalent to dropping the soap in a prison shower.
It's not destruction of anybody's property if it's temporary, which is what the article suggests.
In fact, if he copyrights his own image, he's actually enforcing his rights, and any attempt to make the camera capture his image will then be a DMCA violation...
I don't know about you, but that really hot woman in the background makes me nervous. She wasn't there before. I need to be constantly appraised of her actions, for my own sense of well-being.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
What if you are a thief for a living?
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I'll bet you love nyt articles because you can whore karma with that link.
Am I wrong?
Next thing you know, paranoid women will start keeping a laser pointer in a certain convenient place, causing all sorts of new problems.
Er, problems for the upskirt camera folks, I mean.
Ah. Mister KFG has learned the first lesson in the art of not being seen. Don't stand up. Mister KFG, would you stand up now? KA-BOOM!
-----Chaz
She's obviously smuggling explosives or weapons of mass destruction!
Jesus, God, People, it's the New York friggin' Times, fer chrissake!! Just register and get on with your lives! Your individual liberties and right to watch Babylon Five re-runs are not being compromised.
This is like a goddam circus! You should see yourselves! It's better than anything on The Onion, and scarier...
"I've become Big Brother, but I didn't mean to be," Mr. Graham said. "It's just that there's no money in education or scientific collaboration."
Good to know that personal principles are no match for market economics. Whew.
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
...Or just think of all the potential presidential candidates that would be disqualified for being nose-pickers.
Worker on phone with headquarters
"We can't support that candidate, sir. He was caught on a Walmart security camera rooting around in his nose."
"No, we couldn't supress it. CNN's already got copies. You think Ford's stumbling was bad... Sir, we're going to have dump him. Inviable candidate. Need to find someone with shorter softer nose hairs and less mucus buildup."
"Yes sir, we'll start looking for a clean nose right away. There's nothing more important in a presidential candidate natually clean nasal passages."
Toddlers are the stormtroopers of the Lord of Entropy.
Indeed, this underscores the importance of not being seen!
I'm done with sigs. Sigs are lame.
This reminds me of back in High school, There were a bunch of stoners on the bus who would have "contests" to see how long they could put a laser pointer directly in their eye before it became so physically painful that they had to look away. Im sure theyre all blind now, or polititians.
The number of home burglaries commited by hot babes is on the rise.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Ladies, if you are worried about indecent individuals who are now legally able to look up your skirt you now have a solution. Simply purchase a pen-laser, a little duct tape, and attach it to your underwear aiming at a downward angle. Any potential peepers will end up with a bad case of the blinks and hopefully very unpleasant itch for awhile. Camera will be blanked out.
Actually, I originally meant this to be somewhat humourous, but I wouldn't be surprised if I see these in the next lingerie magazine.
Not that I, um, read lingerie magazines or anything... they're my girlfriend's... - phorm
Then the camera, being a good trusted DRM-compliant appliance, will realise it has no licence to look at you and promptly shut itself down...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
No, we can all see just fine. You always were such a pussy.