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Prototype System Blocks Digital Cameras
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.
You know what happened 10 years ago? The parents came home only to find their kid not there.
And if private businesses blocked cell signals, then they'd walk out in the parking lot to a message telling them where the kid is.
I go to a movie to enjoy myself, I set my phone to vibrate so if I get a text from my mail server it disrupts no one by myself.
An interesting thought, but I've seen many people "not bothering anyone else" open up their bright phone in a dark theater, poke buttons for a few seconds, then put it away. Short of a headset that converts text messages to speech only you can hear, someone will notice you whipping out your phone and illuminating the screen.
So yes, its annoying, but not as annoying as people making assumptions about me despite knowing nothing about me.
Wah. I don't need to know you personally to know what you are like. You are the considerate asshole. You don't think you are an asshole, but you still are. And that's the worst kind. There is no "polite" use of a cell phone in a theater. That you think there is justifies people judging you without knowing you.
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