COPYCENSE

“As the bootlegging of first-run movies increases, with the availability of inexpensive digital cameras, there should be a way to thwart them, says Gregory Abowd, associate professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. To do this, he and his team have developed a device that can detect the presence of a digital camera or camcorder — and keep it from capturing usable images.

“Researchers have been trying to develop effective ways to jam a camera for years, says Edward Delp, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University. A number of companies, including Philips, Thomson, and Apogen Technologies, as well as a handful of universities, have been working on projects and prototypes. The Georgia Tech approach, which combines methods of detecting a camera and the means to automatically prevent it from taking pictures is “a nice technology,” says Delp, that achieves these two goals in one device, while also using infrared light to spot cameras, in contrast to some other combination systems.”

Kate Greene. Lights, Camera — Jamming. Technology Review. June 22, 2006.

Related Stories & Documents:

• Georgia Tech Research News. No Pictures Please: Researchers Develop System to Thwart Unwanted Video and Still Photography. (Press release.) June 17, 2006.

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