Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with an inexpensive way to prevent digital cameras and digital video cameras from capturing that secret shot.
The technology they've devised detects the presence of a digital camera up to 33 feet away and can then shoot a targeted beam of light at the lens, according to Shwetak Patel, a grad student at the university and one of the lead researchers on the project.
That means that someone trying for a surreptitious snapshot of, say, a product prototype or an amorous couple gets something altogether less useful--a blurry picture (or a video) of what looks like a flashlight beam, seen head on. - C|Net News
Look at how the technology works here. According to the accompanying paper, it works against both CCD and CMOS sensors, relying upon an effect known as retroreflection to detect the camera or videocamera. The effect is not visible to human eyes, except for a slight glow from the projector. Paparazzi are still safe, because there is a maximum range for this protection - currently 5 meters in this proof-of-concept prototype. So as long as you have a long enough zoom lens...
[via Gizmodo]
