Digital camera blocking technology

Researchers at Georgia Tech have come up with a technology for preventing video cameras from working. The setup uses sensors to detect cameras from the reflectivity and shape of CCD sensors (or is it actually detecting the lens?), then directs a beam of light (potentially a laser) at the CCDs to prevent it from recording images. The prospective uses they suggest include prevention of piracy in movie theaters and as a countermeasure against espionage. Their small-area technology is apparently close to ready for commercialization, but the large-area version still has a ways to go.

The camera-neutralization technology "may never work against single-lens reflex cameras."

Let's hope it doesn't become a technology used to prevent the documentation of abuses, governmental or otherwise.