DRM Moves From Digital To The Real World With Anti-Photographing Device
from the just-what-no-one-needed dept
There's been lots of talk today about the system under development at the Georgia Institute of Technology to try to stop digital cameras from working in some areas. It works by detecting the presence of digital cameras, and then "blinding" them with white light. There are still some kinks to work out -- and apparently the system sometimes confuses things like diamond earrings with digital cameras. They talk about how this can be used to stop people from videotaping movies, for instance, but this is really just an attempt to expand "DRM-style" blockades to the photography and video of objects in the real world -- and, just like DRM on digital content the arguments don't make much sense. While perhaps the technology can be used to stop some people from videotaping movies, it won't stop anyone with an analog still or video camera, and all of that content will still be available online (usually from better sources than taping in the theater). Instead, what's more likely is that this technology will be used to prevent ordinary people from doing perfectly legal things like taking a photo of their kid with Santa, rather than paying the professional photographer to do so -- or, perhaps, it will be used by overly paranoid security people to stop perfectly legitimate photographs of buildings. Once again, it won't stop the availability of this type of content, but it will annoy plenty of people by preventing them from doing perfectly legal things.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Screw the MPAA, RIAA, DRM, etc...
I can't wait until all this BS blows up in the faces of those who are trying to step on us all.
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Quick! Patent this idea:
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Re: Quick! Patent this idea:
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Re: Re: Quick! Patent this idea:
http://phantomplate.com/
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Deliver some real news not these bullshit stories.
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Re:
You're right. This site sucks. Absolutely nothing here worth reading. If I were you, I'd just quit visiting all together. I completely and sincerely suggest that.
But noo, you'll just keep hanging around like bad wallpaper, won't you?
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Blame Bush
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Now the finches were news worthy!
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Anti-Photographing Device
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get off it
I don't know if it's the right answer but it is a start. Some good ideas, be sceptical of political motivations but they are talking about a fundamental change in what affects the majority of us.
www.unity08.com
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Re: get off it
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Damn
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Re: Damn
I don't know about that since Kodak, like many other companies, is already starting to ramp down on film.
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This Just In
MPAA and affiliates are beta testing a band of highly trained ear and eye gouging monkeys. These thug monkeys are trained to extract the ear drums of passers by who may steal music performances from nearby cars, headphones turned up too loud, or open windows.
The monkeys have also proven effective at gouging the eyes out of felons viewing broadcast media without paying appropriate licensing fees, such as movies played on department store TVs.
Motion Picture employees laud the new technology claiming, "finally, Little Timmy can get his surgery."
...In other news, Little Timmy was seen leaving a popular Beverly Hills plastic surgery outpatient office sporting new ab implants...
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another thought
As General Westmoreland said "the military doesn't start wars, politicians do. My brothers and I pay for it."
So if this technology is used to deter a carrolla laden with explosives from killing five gate gaurds. then I'll support it's use. Remember the people who stand those watches are just regular people you know. People who have kids, wives and car payments.
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fight the DRM
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/
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that's cool
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It's good news
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Anti-spy technology? Hardly!
I'm also curious as to how this device could possibly detect a digital camera. Some cameras use emiters to focus, but it's not too difficult to create a camera that uses fixed focus and manual exposure.
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Savvy VC's won't touch it with a shitty stick
It addresses the current generation of CCD/lens based digital cameras, and by all accounts does so rather badly anyway. Digital cameras are a fast moving target, there are at least 4 alternative technologies in the making all based on significantly different physical principles. Almost certainly, the next generation of digital cameras will be invulnerable to this detection method. In the final analysis you cannot detect from point A that a photon of light incident on B has been received at point C. I'm sure better physicists than me can explain this better. Furthermore this detection method can be trivially defeated by a number of simple modifications.
On a philosophical note, I am staggered by the bonfire of wealth and resources going into impossible task of controling digital content. Are we so bereft of anything to create/do/accomplish in this world that our entire focus has become protecting abstract information as property? History will judge this period of pathological thinking with disgust and ridicule.
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Not Totally New
cameras using IR but found there were several
patents in this field already.
Detecting the CCD is novel. But easy to circumvent
or even better, spoof. I could give away really cool
lapel pins and flood the theatre with targets.
Anyone watching some crap recording isn't going
to fork out the bucks for a ticket or buy an over
priced DVD. It's not really lost revenue.
Better the movie theatre owners / film makers
should improve the experience and provide more
value in buying a movie ticket. Add interesting
trailers and behind the scenes stuff like they do
with some DVD's.
They used to use Air Conditionoing to lure people
into the house... they need to find a new hook.
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Consumer version needed...
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http://www.bostonretinalimplant.org/
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This is a very slippery slope: what's next?
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The younger generation are not aware...
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Getting my money's worth
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I agree with you. Why not find a static purpose and aim for the technology, I think that would definitely help in the public in utilization and clarity of DRM tech. Keeping in mind that many people will be using it however they see fit regardless.
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