BlindSpot: Creating Capture-Resistant Spaces

The increasing presence of digital cameras and camera phones brings with it legitimate concerns of unwanted recording situations for many organizations and individuals. Although the confiscation of these devices from their owners can curb the capture of sensitive information, it is neither a practical nor desirable solution. In this chapter, we present the design of a system, called BlindSpot, which prevents the recording of still and moving images without requiring any cooperation on the part of the capturing device or its operator. Our solution involves a simple tracking system for locating any number of retro-reflective CCD or CMOS camera lenses around a protected area. The system then directs a pulsing light at the lens, distorting any imagery the camera records.