Ifyou're in, say, an exclusive vacation spot or in a private party and you don't want to get your photos taken (most probably you're a celebrity or you're just afraid your parents might see what you've been up to), then you might just want to invest in this newly developed system that can block digital camera functions.

A prototype of this system has been completed and produced by a team at the Intelligent Computing division of Georgia Tech College of Computing. The materials used to build this device were things you could easily get your hands on: lighting equipment, camera-mounted sensors, a computer and a projector.

This device works by scanning a given area for the reflectivity and the shape of image-producing sensors commonly used in digital cameras. According to those in charge of the project, the camera-neutralizing technology could have commercial promise in these two major fields - protecting restricted areas from being photographed and stopping video copying in areas such as theaters.

At the moment, this technology only uses two cameras and visible light to search for CCDs. If it's going to be used in the future in business centers or government offices, then developers think that they will be replacing the said equipment with photo-detecting transistors and invisible infrared lasers to find contraband cameras.

This system works neither on film cameras (these don't have CCD sensors) nor on single-lens reflex cameras (because of their folding-mirror system).

The camera-neutralizing technology will be developed further and be made available soon.