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Prototype System Blocks Digital Cameras

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the lawyer's-wet-dream dept.

lee1 writes "Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have completed a prototype device that can block digital cameras. The team in the Interactive and Intelligent Computing division of the Georgia Tech College of Computing used off-the-shelf equipment (camera-mounted sensors, lighting equipment, a projector and a computer) to scan for, find and neutralize digital cameras. The system works by looking for the reflectivity and shape of the image sensors and saturating them with a thin beam of visible white light. The principal applications are expected to be protecting areas such as government buildings and trade shows against clandestine photography, stopping unauthorized amateur photography of, for example, shopping-mall Santas (really!) and defeating video copying in theaters. The countermeasure: film." Sounds perfect for copyrighted public spaces.

5 of 494 comments (clear)

  1. My question is... by Solra+Bizna · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it just "block" the cameras, or does it destroy them?

    Either way, I hope this comes in a personal unit. It'd be a nice way to avoid being photographed at family gatherings.

    -:sigma.SB

    --
    WARN
    THERE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM
    1. Re:My question is... by Cleon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Seems like it just disrupts the pictures taken at the time, which would be very commercially useful. Honestly, I hope it doesn't become very commonplace; I rather enjoy seeing the random crap people take pictures of with their cell phones.

      Personally, I'd rather see cell phone jammers become more common--in restaurants and theaters, especially.

      --
      Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
  2. Slashdot to Paparazzi: by grogdamighty · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nothing to see here, move along...

    --
    My other sig is funny.
  3. Re:Misuse? by dr_dank · · Score: 5, Funny

    It sounds like it's a technology for the power hungary.

    And just what does the utility company in Budapest have to do with it?

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  4. So, let's think of the countermeasures... by igb · · Score: 5, Funny
    OK, given thirty seconds, let's think.
    • SLR Camera (that's acknowledged in the article) --- the sensor isn't revealed except during the actual taking of the picture, the rest of the time there's a mirror in the way.
    • Ordinary digicam, but use the optical viewfinder and keep your hand over the lens until you take the picture.
    • If they're using wavelength X for the detection process, just use a filter that blocks that wavelength and work in black and white (perfectly acceptable for most trade show spying)
    • Polarising filter will probably screw things up.
    • Lens Hood would mean the detection system would need to be on-axis.
    • Wear old CCDs as jewelery.
    ian